I haven't tried 8.1 yet and so far I love my Windows 7 compared to 8.
8.1 will only bring back a simple start menu and such, a lot of the UI changes they made are horrible, while some core OS changes are nice. (This is with 8 not 8.1, havent tested 8.1 yet)
In all honestly it is the UI more than anything I hate. But just like office, if they stick with it you will have no choice. 7 is great and will be for the next couple of years, but just like XP will become outdated.
8 is their test bed for the new UI. Just like vista was and then 7 came out with a ton of bugs fixed and things tweaked and so much better. I am willing to bet Windows 9 will be pretty good, only because that seems to be the method of MS.
Windows 95 - Good
Windows 98 - Bad
Windows 98 SE - Good
Windows ME - Bad
Windows XP - Good
Windows Vista - Bad
Windows 7 - Good
Windows 8 - Bad
Windows 9 - If it follows trend may be good.
The fact that there are more vista machines than Windows 8 give you an idea. And again it isn't the core oS, it is fast. But they went and took what the users know and throw it out the window, horrible mistake.
I miss Bill Gates being in charge of the OS
We need a tech in charge not a business man.
The whole interface changes was to force users to use their App store. It was all for $$$ and it cost them instead so far. Lets see if they can make it better.
Shane