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> The main problem with current Start menu is the clutter. Although Windows > 2000 hides not-so-frequently used programs there by default, methinks it > makes the situation worse: The programs in the menu change their location > all the time. And the computer doesn't seem to understand that if I don't > use some program so often, it doesn't mean that I don't use it at all. hey, you won't use it at all if you can't find it! so in the end, it will make sense. fortunately you can switch the hiding off. i don't think there is an intelligent way to hide stuff. if you haven't used something for a long time, you'll be even more baffled if it can't even be found at the same place where you remember last seeing it. giving higher status to stuff you've installed yourself sounds reasonable though. i rarely use the mouse at all with windows, though i have started to use it a bit more with a laptop as it's right there in the keyboard (no need to reach for it). i have shortcuts to everything i regularly use right in the start menu top level, 20 icons fit there nicely and i don't even use that many programs regularly. renaming the shortcuts conveniently it's then possible to launch anything by pressing the win key / ctrl+esc and then the first letter of the shortcut name. mouse is good for pointing at things when the things pointed at are visual. like layer tabs in photoshop, clicking at them is like telling the computer "see, i want this". the whole concept of accessing abstract, text-based menus by aiming at them with a moving cursor is somehow fundamentally absurd. even without actual one-key shortcuts, pressing "alt+F & A" for "File > save As" at least operates in the same context as the text-based menu! > Then again, auto-hiding the stuff in the Start menu is just a workaround. > The main question remains: why there has to be so much stuff in the Start > menu? Isn't it supposed to be a quick program starter menu? Why do program > install themselves inside subfolders of subfolders (like Start -> Programs > -> Adobe -> Adobe Photoshop (folder) -> Adobe Photoshop (shortcut))? what's under my "start menu > programs" is a total mess, but i only need to go there rarely in search for something scary. > Start menu clutter is just a part of the bigger usability problem in > Windows: people don't learn to use the Windows file system even effectively > as easily as they do learn the Mac file system logic. So, there is a _need_ > to put shortcuts to all the essential stuff in the Start menu probably true. i also think that the reason there actually are usable keyboard shortcuts in windows is that the redmond people have had to troubleshoot their own machines too often while the os fails to recognize the mouse... so they were forced to enable keyboard controls. my meagre mac experience has not convinced me that the os mouse usability in itself is any better, though i take everybody's word for it... but what i have noted is that it's really hard to find a pc mouse that's SMALL enough to be used. the "ergonomical" pc mouses are way ergonomical if you only rest your hand on them, but if you try to move them around with your fingers and not with your whole arm (like i believe most people do...) the palm-shape makes no sense at all. it's like writing with a pencil the size of a wrist. an old-fashioned basic mac mouse seems to be small and thin enough to fit comfortably between the fingers, and the one-button design also suits the style people naturally move a mouse. jani
