Classic Shell (shell alternative for Windows 10, 8, 7) - Mini-Review

[IainB]

Originally posted:	2014-08-04
Last updated	2017-12-05 - developer of Classic Shell announces he is quitting, and releases the last version of the program.

Basic Info

App/Service Name

[attach]

[consumer4beta]

Here's an objective comparison of the Start Menus: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2399

[superboyac]

I've been using this for about a year now, i love it.
I just installed it on my new surface pro.  So this will be my first test with it on a truly touch oriented device.  So far I'm loving that the traditional start menu is back.

[IainB]

@consumer4beta:

Here's an objective comparison of the Start Menus: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2399

Thanks for that! Just what was needed - compares it to the standard system also. I have added the link to the comparison review to s7.0 of the opening post.

[IainB]

2016-03-28: Update to the opening post, and 5 x  - as the latest stable version of Classic Shell is now 4.2.5, and almost 2 years have passed since my last update    - during which time Classic Shell has gone from strength to strength, having by now been in active development for 6 years and has tens of millions of downloads.

If DCF users aren't already using Classic Shell on their Windows 8 and upwards PCs, then they could do a lot worse that give it a try.

I was reminded to do this long-overdue update after reading this very interesting post: Sorry Microsoft, I have no use for Live Tiles - gHacks Tech News
From my perspective I entirely agree with that post, and not only do I have no use for Live Tiles, but also I don't have any use for any Tiles.
I never have had any use for Windows tiles. I thought that they were part of the failed Windows 8 experiment, and I don't understand why MS seems to continue to want to ram tiles onto our desktop and into our eyeballs.
I started using the Classic Start Menu shell in Win8 and I continue using it now that I have upgraded to Win10-64 Pro - on all the PCs that I support for my users.
Classic Shell is an ergonomic godsend for any Windows PC user.
With Classic Shell, the user rarely sees or has to remove tiles from their view. The user simply forgets the tiles even exist.

[x16wda]

At home I have been using Win 10 (except for its file explorer), after using Start 8 on Win 8. But at work we have been putting Classic Shell on 2012 and 2012r2 boxes for our largest customer. It's not that you can't get stuff done without it, it's just a lot more efficient with it in place.

[IainB]

Cross-posted from: Re: T-Clock 2.4.3 build 471 Display Properties throws error

@anandcoral:
Thanks for the response. Very interesting (to me).
If, as you write,

...It is the interface which has some learning curve. You may have to give your user some time to guide them "how to find in Win10 which was in WinXp/7" This is the biggest problem/change of this upgrade. And more is coming ... as we finding after each OS update.
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- then I would strongly suggest consideration be given to installing Classic Start Menu - refer Classic Shell (shell alternative for Windows 10, 8, 7) - Mini-Review
Classic Start Menu also provides an alternative XP, or Vista, or Win7 interface (take your pick). This could be useful for you with your users' needs (as you have described them).

In any event, this worked very well for me and my 2 favourite guinea-pigs (my now 15½ y/o daughter and 6 y/o son). They never noticed the migration from Vista-->Win7-->Win8/8.1-->Win10.

Ergonomically, Classic Start Menu seems to provide a far better GUI anyway (compared to the arguably ergonomically atrocious Metro GUI) and performance/stability seem to be unimpaired and the overhead seems to be minimal.

By providing a consistent and ergonomically sound interface as one migrates across OS upgrades, the process will be relatively transparent - i.e., hardly noticeable by users - and thus they will have little difficulty (minimal learning curve) after the upgrade. It's quite impressive to see this happening with users of the Classic Start Menu.

A lot of my perspective on GUIs comes from experience including, for example, managing the implementation of corporate-wide systems upgrades, where the greatest challenge was often trying to get a large population of users (e.g., knowledge workers in offices, or bank tellers in bank branches) up and running productively as quickly as possible - i.e., with minimum downtime/re-learning. Consistency with the old GUI and ergonomic efficiency were always a priority at the outset, during the system requirements analysis stage.
Good ergonomics may be a very real requirement, especially in military and office-based systems and where the ergonomics have already been been finely crafted to meet fairly stringent requirements in the first place.

My experience is that consistency and good ergonomics in the GUI generally tends to be universally beneficial and improves user-acceptance and take-up of the new system, whether it be in cases as above (the military, or banks) or (say) the family unit, or educational programmed-learning environments.

[IainB]

UPDATE 2017-05-25 1341hrs: Minor updates to the OP, including the latest version currently being v4.3.0.

[dr_andus]

Yup, loving the "Classic with two columns" start menu replacement for Win7. 

[IainB]

Yup, loving the "Classic with two columns" start menu replacement for Win7. 
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Yes. Once trialled, rarely uninstalled, I suspect. Of the three components of Classic Shell, the older-styles of Classic Start Menu are arguably the most impressive and useful, but the other two components - the older-style Windows Explorer GUI and IE GUI - will probably have their adherents too.

[IainB]

Is Classic Shell dead? Developer quits
tags: Software
by Martin Brinkmann on December 4, 2017 in Software - Last Update:December 4, 2017

The developer of the popular Classic Shell application for Microsoft's Windows operating system released the last version of the program yesterday. ...

...The developer of Classic Shell announced yesterday on the official forum that he won't work on the program anymore. He provided three explanations for stopping development of the application:

1. Lack of free time because of other interests.
2. Windows 10 is updated too frequently (twice a year with a new feature update) which makes it difficult to keep up with the development, especially since updates break functionality of Classic Shell frequently.
3. Microsoft changing the core of Windows from being based on the classic Win32 programming model, and thereby making it more difficult for developers to achieve the level of customization that Classic Shell offers.

The last official version of Classic Shell, version 4.3.1 was released yesterday as well. Users of the application can download and install it.

The latest version is compatible with all recent versions of Windows starting with Windows 7. I tested it on the most recent Redstone 4 build of Windows 10 as well, and did not run into any issues installing it on that system.

The lead developer uploaded that last version, and the application's source code to SourceForge. While he won't develop the software anymore, others may come and fork the code to continue development.