Zdnet : As Microsoft's partners and fans edge away from Windows 8 on the desktop, it's time to re-consider the alternatives.
The cloud storage platform will drop support for older versions of Windows in early 2022.
Microsoft responded with Windows 8 and its Surface RT tablet.
In the earliest days of the Surface, it was hard to shake the notion that the line was something of a reference design for Windows 8.
Day 1. Why wouldnt you want faster? If you dont like the interface of win8 just change it back to the win7 look. Not rocket science here.
the answer is simple. keep your copy of Win 7. when you get a new pc/laptop with windows 8, before doing anything, format and reinstall win 7. then use it as normal.
best thing, download the oem copy of win 7 and use you CoF from a prev laptop. use the activated files and copy it over to your new pc (google can help here). yes thats illegal to have 2 pcs running the same CoF at the same time. but hey, F%^K MS, why should you pay for something u didnt want in the first place.
But I don't want to skip it, I'm already using it and loving all the performance tweaks.
I just think of the start screen as an extended and advanced start menu. Or you can think of it as a login screen to the desktop.
Just based on how fast windows 8 runs, I wouldn't want to go back to windows 7.