I'm reluctant to move to Windows 8 as well as I'm not a fan of the Metro Interface.
I started using a program called Start8 (stardoc.com), it will take you directly to the desktop, give you a start button and let you customize it.
I had a machine hard drive crash (couldn't do a back up from SBSE because didn't have a large enough hard drive) and was in the process of developing a machine so I put Win8 Enterprise 90 day on (40G drive), with Start8. I had some minor issues with having to install net framework 3.5 (4 is built into 8) and of course it coughed saying SQL server was not compatible (but it worked.) I did have to ping support about a strange network issue, but it was resolved. Networking is very much like Win7.
Works well, with Start8, it looks a feels a lot like Win7. You can flip into the Metro (or whatever they're calling it) interface, but I don't really need to. No issues with cute PDF, Nitro, Kingsoft Writer that are my standard fare. I forgot that my older HP laserjets are not compatible (but that was a problem with win7 unless you use a USB to paralleled converter.)
I'll probably use this machine for a while after I get the other one up and running just to play with. The license on the version of Enterprise is only 90 days, although I may be able to extend it.
Actually this machine better than most of my machines as I picked up a board and AMD 6 core for $100 at Microcenter. I really wanted the 6 core to upgrade another machine and took out a quad core which I used in this project.
