It’s been practically 10 years since Windows 8 launched to the world as a part of Microsoft’s huge pill push. While we’ve seen two heads of Windows since then, former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky has shared some early idea photos for Windows 8 in a brand new video. The photos present ideas for the Start menu, a number of monitor assist, File Explorer, Internet Explorer, and much extra.

Windows 8 improvement started within the spring of 2010, and Microsoft held an all-team occasion for the Windows org (round 5,000 folks) on the Seattle Convention Center. “This video was played as the meeting ended and the team departed the Seattle Convention Center,” explains Sinofsky. “It is a highlight or sizzle reel of the many months we spent planning the release and all of the inputs into the Windows 8 project.”

One of the primary idea photos that’s shared within the video is the brand new Start menu that Microsoft pushed forward with to make Windows 8 extra touch-friendly. It wasn’t notably properly obtained, as Microsoft made it full display and tough to seek out due to the elimination of the normal Start button. In one other idea picture, the Start button might be present in its common spot alongside a touch-friendly widgets panel.

That identical taskbar idea is proven once more within the video because it spans throughout a number of screens alongside a number of wallpaper assist. There’s even an up to date Task Manager that appears very totally different from what exists in Windows at the moment. Microsoft by no means shipped this explicit Task Manager, however the firm did tweak it barely in Windows 8 with a bigger overhaul in Windows 11.

These ideas present some early work towards what finally turned Windows 8, and the existence of the Start button reveals that Microsoft wasn’t all the time desirous about eradicating that key aspect. Microsoft finally introduced again the Start button in Windows 8.1, however the OS will largely be remembered for Microsoft’s troubled try to remodel Windows for tablets whereas forgetting the first method folks use Windows with a keyboard and mouse, even 10 years later.