You could always cover your desktop with icons of your apps. You've been able use the windows key for a while now to launch an app. So why didn't most people do that before? Because they didn't want to. They wanted the start menu. Some programs have more than one app. Remember all the names? You've got to be kidding. It's easier to use the start menu to drill down to what you want. I have a "one finger gesture" for Microsoft's touch screen.