It had to happen sooner or later. News from those who somehow acquired copies of a Windows 8 "Consumer Preview" version (build 8220) that leaked this weekend indicates that Microsoft has finally decided to remove one of the staple elements of the Windows operating system: The start button. Whether you know it more as a start button or start orb – the latter having replaced the flatter "start rectangle" in Windows Vista – the tiny little area that you'd previously click on to pull up a menu of applications, shortcuts, and search functionality is no more. The Windows Superbar, first introduced with Windows 7, now extends across the entirety of the bottom of Windows 8's "desktop mode." And it functions just the same as how you're already used to using it in Windows 7.
