Windows 8 is fine for me. Mrs p6 took to it no problems. Heck I even like the charms bar.
We don’t have touchscreens on our Windows devices.
Both of us are eager to try Win10 and like you don’t want the original start menu!
The Start Menu in 10 is more like hybrid of the Windows 8 Start Screen with the Windows 7 Start Menu. Clicking Start pulls up a window with the Start Menu on the left and the tiles from the Start Screen on the right.