They likely were aware of this leak [1], but didn't want to name it specifically (or had their own sources).

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/15/22535123/microsoft-window...

Ah, that's more interesting than the linked story. Thanks for sharing.

Mac style centered dock. LoL.

Well, the first problem with the Start menu is there are two of them.

But for example, a user wants to look up or change something to do with the configuration. How do they go about choosing which of these to try on the right-click Start menu: System, Device Manager, Computer Management, Settings.

Press the Windows key and then start typing what you're looking for.

I'm weary of suggesting that to those I provide tech support for anymore.

For me, on my current PC, typing up to "Visu" leads to "Visual Studio 2019", but adding one more character to "Visua" leads to "Visual Studio Code", which is what I wanted in the first place most of the time. No clue what the heuristics here are, but it's not predictable to me.

More troubling: "Che" leads to Microsoft's "Check for Updates", which is pretty much what I always want, but "Chec" leads to Java's "Check for Updates", which I kinda never want.

I can no longer predict to someone I'm guiding over the phone what typing something into the start menu will do. Even for me, I'll be typing something, and finish off a few keystrokes by muscles memory before hitting enter only to have it decide I really meant something else before I notice. And I suspect whatever heuristic uses the misfire as further ammunition to get things even more wrong in the future.

I understand and have dealt with this myself. I have to type "phot" before "Adobe Photoshop 2021" even appears as an option. But if you don't know where to find Bluetooth settings, for example, typing "bluetooth" will get you there.

Not to diminish your complaint, but try typing "Code". Works for me.

In the author's defense, when a new major release of Windows is announced, assuming that this time it might happen without yet another not asked for start menu reshuffle would be quite the dark horse bet.

You can't have a folder structure like in Xp (and 7?). Or decide where stuff should be and in what order. Also MS push crappy game adds there as shortcuts which look like they are allready installed.