The Old New Thing

Why do you have to click the Start button to shut down?

July 22, 2003 Jul 22, 2003 07/22/03

Raymond Chen

Short answer: The same reason you turn the ignition key to shut off your car. Long answer: Back in the early days, the taskbar didn't have a Start button. (In a future history column, you'll learn that back in the early days, the taskbar wasn't called the taskbar.) Instead of ...