With Windows Blue, a k a Windows 8.1, Microsoft is re-introducing a Start Button and adding a boot-straight-to-desktop option. Here's how these may work.

While sources have emphasized that the Start Button won't work the way the current Windows Start Button does -- by opening up a Start Menu -- that's about all we've heard.

This news alone has Windows users jumping for joy, but their celebrations may be premature, as the Start button won't come back in full force, meaning that it won't bring up a Windows 7-like Start ...

The point is, even with the addition of the Start Button if you don’t like the direction Windows is going in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 won’t do anything to abate that.

Could Microsoft phase out the Start button in Windows 12 and replace it with Copilot? Listen to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and it seems like a very real possibility.