RE: I would say they are relevant...
Not really. I am a pro and the Start menu was fine as a quick fix to a problem of finding apps and stuff. But it is cumbersome and finicky. I saw my user fill their desktops with shortcuts, pins to the taskbar or Start menu, or attempted to have apps load upon bootup. That's not a sign of something working. I went from creating elaborate hierarchies in my filing to something rarely more than 2 folders deep. I think my fellow pros get a kick out of drilling into the system to do menial tasks. I just want to "giterdone". I would've eventually hired a coder to make a hovering start screen for Windows 7 had MS not come out with Windows 8. Everyone who loves the current menu has to be a masochist (and not in the cool way).
