As a LINUX user for 20 years (give or take..started in redhat 2,1 kernel 1.2/1.3) I find myself in the strange position of not liking Windows 8 (or 7 come to that) but having Grudging respect.
Have a nice widescreen 1920x??? laptop at home from about January with Windows 8. Very hard to get used to. Either download a 3rd party start button or create a toolbar from
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Drag the little bugger to the far left. and close up eveything else. You are left with a menu called "Program" with a double area that opens a start menu style menu. Works really well for non-touch, gives you everthing added (except notepad, so pin it). On touch the double area is too small.
I put LibreOffice on for sanity.
At work just upgraded from 5 year old Windows XP Toshiba Tecra ??? with office 2004 to an SSD Windows 7 with office ???(2010 I think). Very fast OS , but Office sucks (particularly Outlook). The Ribbon replaces easy menu and shortcuts, that have been aroudn since Excell 5/Word 6 with new alternatives. Struggling with this! I really find the rbbon bar + loss of desktop real estate annoying at work..
My view: Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 are great OSs under the hood - suck mighty in UI - might be blaming Office for Windows 7 to be sure. Give me Windows 7 + Ofiice 2003 + sensbile screen res at work, and I will be a productive happy chappy.
What I have at home works well.