It's a genuinely good operating system. I use 7, 8 and OSX every day. I prefer OSX(largely because I have access to a great terminal, familiar shell commands and lots of great developer tools :)), but the rabid hate displayed for 8 is completely out of line with reality. It's faster, more efficient and gives you better management tools. A lot of the hate seems to derive from some weird belief that you need to use Metro if you use Windows 8, which is simply not the case.
The only thing you 'need' to use is the Start Screen, but that should be a rarity since you should have the majority of your familiar programs down on the bar. Moreover, even when you need to use it, you use it the same way you do in 7. Just hit the windows key and type away!
My one complaint would be that the settings are a bit of a mess. There was clearly a rush to make things accessible from both the Desktop and Metro side of things, and as a result the settings can be kind of odd to find/navigate.
The only thing you 'need' to use is the Start Screen, but that should be a rarity since you should have the majority of your familiar programs down on the bar. Moreover, even when you need to use it, you use it the same way you do in 7. Just hit the windows key and type away!
My one complaint would be that the settings are a bit of a mess. There was clearly a rush to make things accessible from both the Desktop and Metro side of things, and as a result the settings can be kind of odd to find/navigate.