Windows to get its 'start' button back

Hoping to win back customers put off by Windows 8, Microsoft Corp. is bringing back the Windows "start" button and including other enhancements in a stripped down version of its operating system.

The world's largest software company is looking to re-energize sales of its latest Windows version, which has not made the splash with computer users it was hoping for. Executives say the plan is now to update Windows periodically, rather than waiting three years or so between big releases.

Although Microsoft has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses since October, broadly in line with Windows 7 three years ago, the company must tackle a dwindling PC user base and its inability to make a mark in the exploding tablet market.

Shipments of traditional PCs - the most reliable gauge of Windows' popularity - are expected to fall almost 8 percent this year, while Microsoft's Surface has taken less than 2 percent of the tablet market.

Windows 8 was designed to be used both on touch-screen tablets and traditional PCs. But while touch-screen users tend to like the new “tile”-based interface, many mouse and keyboard users complained that the new design was confusing.

Confirming speculation, Microsoft said the Windows 8.1 update will have a button in the bottom left corner of the screen that acts like the “start” button in previous versions of Windows. Although it will not be labelled "start" it features the Windows logo and takes the user straight to a grid of applications.

“The work you are seeing us do here is continuing to advance the modern (interface), while really taking into account some of the things we've learned from people who still want to use the desktop, to make the transition easier,” Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of the Windows unit, said in an advance briefing on the Windows 8.1 update last week.

Microsoft is only making features of the new software public on Thursday.

Windows 8.1, previously known by the code name "Blue," will be available for free to all Windows 8 users some time later this year. Microsoft will make a test version available at its annual developer conference on June 26.