How to create your Windows 8 Start Button with PowerShell

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Before I go on, I have to say I find the Start Menu unnecessary.  There are already many ways to get to your Start Screen:

  • Throw mouse to lower-left corner (with the mouse)
  • Press the Windows key (on your keyboard)
  • Swipe in from the left edge (touch screen)
  • Press the Start button (any device with a hardware start button)

 

That said, Windows is still about choice.  And here's how you can add your own "Start Menu Button"

  1. Create a shortcut.
  2. Type in this:
    powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms; [Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait('^({ESC})')"

    (all in one line)
    This sends the Windows key (CTRL-ESC) via Powershell.
    image
  3. Configure the shortcut to run minimized
    image
  4. Change the Icon, I select this icon from the bootux.dll file %SystemRoot%\System32\bootux.dll) 
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    (All the icons are white, select them to see what they look like) 
  5. Drag the shortcut and pin it to the task bar, on the far left.
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  6. Now you have that familiar Start menu button back.  Click it and you'll get the Start Screen to pop up. 
    image

 

Notes

  • Does not appear to work in Windows RT, but if you have a Surface just hit that start hardware button

Windows 8

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Windows 8 is coming, and I wanted to say something to set people's expectations right.  I think it'll help people align their views and appreciate this new version, if they choose to upgrade.

Don't expect Windows 8 to be Windows 7 plus more shiny new stuff.  Windows 8 was never designed in the same sense that Windows 7 was actually just Windows Vista plus more polish.  If you install Windows 8 thinking to get a minor update, you will be shocked.

Windows 8 is actually a completely different beast.  Designed with different goals altogether.  It just happens to run Windows (Windows 7) applications.

But at its core, Windows 8 is a different thing.

 

Historically, there was a suitable analogy, Microsoft build Windows NT to be the better kernel going forward, and combined the two systems streams (95, 98, ME) and (NT, 2000) finally into the same stream from XP.  Windows 2000 was vastly different beast from Windows 95, because it was fundamentally a different system, it just happened to run the old Windows 95 apps.

SharePoint Saturday Brisbane update

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Thank you for attending my session on Building Custom REST services and consuming them with jQuery AJAX. 

I hope you enjoyed the session and survived (or even find it interesting) my 1hr rant.

But more importantly, I hope I've given you plenty of ideas on how you can integrate the set of techniques presented in your SharePoint development.

 

A summary link of all my related talks on REST, services and JavaScript technologies like jQuery and Knockout are on /rest/

 

A direct link to the solution that I used for the demo is at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30fe4b030eeeef0a010/1316868647487/SPGSvcWp.zip

The PowerPoint presentation is at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30fe4b030eeeef0a011/1335084544036/SharePoint+REST+and+jQuery5.pptx

 

Drop me a question if you want to ask me anything specific related to these topics and I'm more than willing to geek out!  Hope to see you guys again soon.

SharePoint Saturday Brisbane 02-June-2012

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In little more than 3 more days, we'll be meeting up again in SharePoint Saturday Brisbane! 

I'll be presenting again on the Developer track on how to build custom webservices within SharePoint, and consuming them using JavaScript AJAX. 

On the side, I've been having a lot of fun with KnockoutJS, Client Object Model, REST and even building a Single Page Application for SharePoint on codeplex. 

There's a bunch of InfoPath people and solutions that I'd love to meet and see again.

Overall, I'm looking forward to meeting all the SharePoint people up in Brisvegas and geeking out for a whole day!

There are some talks of having a dedicated time where we can answer lots of questions from the attendees - so if you have any curly problems within your SharePoint, bring your question along and we'll try to help out.

One final reminder:

02 June 2012.  Register http://sharepointsaturday.org/brisbane/default.aspx

SPSPerth 2012 Update

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This is my first time in Perth!  Hello Perthites!

I even took a train to Cottesloe beach - a very nice beach, I watched the sunset and did what any geek would do, I checked in the Indian Ocean.

I will update this post with links after the sessions. In the mean time, you can reference my current collection of articles on these topics regarding REST, custom service, and Knockout

/rest/

Downloads

Reference

Make sure you follow Matt Menezes
http://spmatt.wordpress.com/

He's a regular at Perth user group circles and knows a lot about Knockout.  I think he is slotted in for a future session in the upcoming months - don't miss it!