There’s only one thing anybody needs to know about Windows 8.1: it’s lipstick on a pig and the deckchairs have been rearranged a tad. (OK, technically that’s two things.)
But seriously, if you are a business person or use your PC(s) for anything besides texting, twittering, facebooking, or looking up the latest cat videos, under no circumstance should you consider using Windows 8.xxxxxxx; instead, stick with Windows 7.
I'm running five separate businesses on Win8 and everything is going very well. I actually find Win8 preferable to XP, which I had been using since it came out. All of my software with the exception of a very old time and billing program is functioning in Win 8 without problems. The key is to not use the tile screen. Get Start8 or its equivalent and configure it to boot straight to the desktop and the experience is really quite familiar and pleasant. I'm not a MS fanboy by any stretch, but I don't blast them when I don't find it to be warranted.