Shock as Windows 10 upgrade deletes things that would be removed in a Windows 8 upgrade anyway.
Windows 8 definitely had some serious mis-steps (e.g. hiding the power button), which were all largely ironed out in 8.1. And having used 8.1 for a while, it's definitely better than 7 - it can just take a bit of getting used to.
The previews of Windows 10 look like a decent improvement, although ironically, the start menu is going to take some getting used to. After you've got over the initial shock, and learnt how to customize it, the start screen actually works reasonably well. From what I've seen of the new start menu, it's a fairly uncomfortable mix of menu and start screen, although it might get better with use.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
