The Windows 11 Start menu will soon pester you with reminders for Microsoft Teams meetings

There is, it seems, no end of ways in which Microsoft can use and abuse the Start menu. Now a long way from the simple launcher for accessing apps, documents and settings, the bastardized version of the Start menu that appears in Windows 11 has become a clutter and chaotic mess over the years.

And now Microsoft is adding even more to the mix. Soon, the Recommended section of the Start menu -- already controversial for having been used to house advertising -- will be used to show reminders for upcoming meetings scheduled in Microsoft Teams.

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For now, the feature is undergoing testing with Windows Insiders. Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23619 to the Dev channel a couple of days ago, and this is where the latest changes to the Start menu can be found.

Microsoft lists the new feature in the "Changes and Improvements" section of the release notes for this build:

For people logged into Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise editions with a Microsoft Entra ID account, we are trying out the ability to view and join upcoming Microsoft Teams meetings directly from the Start menu. The next online Teams meeting will show up as a Recommended item 5 minutes before it begins, clicking the meeting recommendation will open the join meeting flow in Teams.

There is a lot of dislike about this, but it raises questions -- not least of which is "who is this aimed at?". But then there are more interesting questions such as whether this is something that will be opened up to other software.

If Microsoft fails to permit other software to make use of the Start menu in similar ways, the company runs the risk of being accused of trying to integrate Teams into Windows 11 too tightly. Sound familiar?