Start menu

The Start menu is a user interface element used in Microsoft Windows and other operating systems that provides a central point for accessing basic operating system functions such as power options and settings, as well as launching programs and viewing recently open documents.

History
Prior to the introduction of the Start menu, Program Manager offered similar functionality using an MDI window. The peculiarities of Windows 3.1 window management meant that the program manager window would often get lost behind other windows, requiring the user to minimize multiple windows in order to launch an application. The program itself also suffered from its rather complex interface, with some common tasks such as exiting Windows being hidden in confusingly named menus.

Microsoft aimed to fix this problem with a new desktop metaphor user interface originally planned for Cairo and later ported to Chicago. An initial design tested in 1993 included a tray with the System, Find and Help buttons -- each exposing a part of the base operating system functionality in a menu. Applications could be launched by browsing the "Programs" directory on the desktop, which was similar to the Windows 3.1 experience. The design further evolved in the following months, resulting in a single menu that combined the three menus and the Programs folder into a single interface.

Classic start menu
The classic Start menu introduced with Windows 95 was a single column menu with a banner on the left side, which contained power options and shortcuts to help as well as submenus for settings, programs, and documents.

Start panel
The Start menu was revamped in Windows XP, however the Windows 9x-like Start menu was kept until Windows 7 build 6469.

Start screen
Compared to the traditional Start menu, Start Screen was based on Metro UI, was specifically designed for touch devices, had no links for documents, pictures, music etc. and used a tile interface similar to Windows Phone. Search and Power buttons didn't exist at first but it was later re-added in Windows 8.1 Update 1.

Start Screen later turned into a Tablet Mode-only start menu in Windows 10 in favor of Start menu's return, however the tile interface stayed to exist in the new XAML Start menu to this day.

XAML Start menu
Windows 10 re-introduced Start menu as an XAML-based taskbar flyout. Later, Windows 10 build 17004 had a redesign the All Apps section to use Fluent Design and Windows 10 build 20158 included the theme-aware tiles in the Start menu for the first time.