If Windows 8 haters had a single feature that they pinned to targets on the firing range, this is it.

The Start screen was the full-screen, brightly colored replacement for the familiar Start button and Start menu. Although it was possible to customize it to be more palatable to desktop diehards, it was much easier to just buy a Start menu replacement.

Windows 8.1 brought the Start button back as a way to reach the Start screen. But in Windows 10, the Start screen is officially gone, replaced by a Start menu that can be expanded to full screen (that's the default view in the new Tablet mode).

The new Start menu is scheduled for a lot of further development before Windows 10 ships. But even in its current state it's hard to look at this design evolution as anything more than a full-scale retreat from the original Windows 8 vision.