You have a solid point there, I’ve never attempted to use W8.
But I did read the reviews of many, and IMO it’s not geared for desktop optimum performance.
I just love it when I fire up W7 and see all those little icons for spreadsheets, CAD drawings, videos etc that are my work projects. Once fired up, a single click and I’m getting things done.
We all have our own preferences. I’m very comfortable with W7, if someone could demonstrate to me how W8 or newer gives a more efficient workflow, then I’d be game.
My current machine is just a few months old, and when I ordered it I asked the sales guy what businesses prefer when they order. He said the vast majority ordered W7, but many are still clinging to XP.
On the other hand if you and others like W8 and newer, that’s OK too because as of yet, this is still somewhat the land of the free.
I manage an Active Directory domain with over 2000 Windows devices, and a majority of them are Windows 7. I don’t have anything against the OS, but it’s “old” to me. Windows 8 boots faster and generally performs better than Windows 7 ever did. I also have a lot more management points in Windows 8 than I do in Windows 7 which makes for a better administrative experience for my desktop engineers when they are using Windows 8.
As you demonstrated, many people fell victim to the telephone game of criticism for Windows 8. Windows 8.1 fixed the issues with the Metro (Modern) interface being the default behavior, and the desktop was back to normal. I prefer the full-screen Start Menu for the search interface. The old way of organizing programs under the Start menu is just clunky to me now.
To each their own. I just wanted to point out that the Windows 8 criticisms should be taken with a grain of salt considering most people didn’t touch the OS itself. Mob mentality can be a cancer to tech adoption, and Microsoft screwed the pooch with marketing the Windows 8 OS overall.