Microsoft improves Windows 11’s Start menu somewhat

Microsoft seems to be addressing some of the oddities with the Windows 11 Start menu, finally adding basic views that should’ve been in Windows 11 since the very start.

We’re introducing two new views to the “All” page in the Start menu: grid and category view. Grid and list view shows your apps in alphabetical order and category view groups all your apps into categories, ordered by usage. This change is gradually rolling out so you may not see it right away. We plan to begin rolling this out to Windows Insiders who are receiving updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 in the Dev and Beta Channels soon.
↫ Amanda Langowski and Brandon LeBlanc

These new views are very welcome, but sadly, you still can’t set them as the default view in the Start menu. You’re still forced to use whatever that default view is, and click on “All” to get to these new views, instead of being available right as you open the Start menu. I messed around with Windows 11 on my XPS 13 9370 for a few weeks as I waited for a review laptop to arrive, and I couldn’t last for a few hours without buying a replacement for the Start menu that allowed me to have a working, non-terrible menu that I could configure to my own needs.

It’s wild to me that such an iconic element of the Windows user interface is in such a dire, unliked state. We all know Windows seems to be a in a bit of a rut, with Microsoft investing more in nonsense like “AI” and ads in the operating system than in actually listening to users and improving their experience. It’s been roughly thirty years since the introduction of the Start menu, and the original one from Windows 95 is still superior to whatever’s in Windows now.

Wild.