First off, so far my testing of Start8 has been absolutely superb. I manage the IT department for a government contractor and my company is looking to move to Windows 8 (still on XP). A full-version license for Start8 per Windows 8 license will be part of the quote I submit. This is an absolute MUST-HAVE for any IT department rolling out Windows 8 on traditional desktop clients. I feared the IT catastrophe of migrating a large group of people to Windows 8 that have been using XP for a very long time. Start8 is nothing short of a dream come true for me.
That being said, there are a few minor things that could benefit from a little polishing. I understand it is still a beta and there is still much to be done in that department, but I just wanted to mention a few things in case they were overlooked. I will not be asking for anything ridiculous like running Modern UI apps in desktop windows, as I am well aware that such a thing is like someone asking to have their living room inside of their television - and if it were even possible it would be well outside the scope of this utility.
The first thing is that the orb gets cut-off at the top when the taskbar properties are set to use small taskbar buttons.
Another thing that would be nice is to go with a more Modern UI look with the start menu to stay consistent with the desktop interface. For example, square-off the corners rather than having the rounded corners of Windows 7. Below is a perfect example that I saw a user post in the comments over at the article highlighting this utility on neowin.net.
Moving on, I would like to reiterate a request I've seen a few people post here already, and that is customization. The ability to control which items appear in the right column would be stellar; as well as the ability to make the items (such as the user's files and the Control Panel) cascading menus instead of just shortcuts, like in Vista/7.
Finally, my biggest stretch as far as requests go, the ability to get rid of the translucency in not just the start menu, but the whole taskbar as well. Why on Earth MSFT decided to go with solid colors on the windows but still leave translucency on the taskbar is beyond me. I am a stickler for consistency in a UI. Even better would be the ability to change the color of the taskbar independently from the windows. For example, I would like to have a black taskbar with white windows. Could it be as simple as some sort of layer behind the taskbar that you could adjust the color of and then use the translucency of the actual taskbar against itself. It's a stretch, I know, but I figured I'd throw it out there. I can always edit my wallpaper by adding a black bar the same height as the taskbar to get the desired effect.
Anyway, your work on this project is much appreciated and I can't wait until the final full version is released so I can start throwing some money your way!
