To OP,
You will probably not get the answer you're looking for. There are just too many opinions about the OS, and the opposition/defense is quite baked in at this point. I used the original Vista when it was still in beta. It was a resource hog, but I had no problem because I had a system that could take it, and at the time I didn't need to do much complicated anyway. I switched to 7 when it was launched, mainly because by then I knew I would be getting it at school for about $8. I started using the Win 8 beta at the start of 2012 because I was curious about what the OS would be like. I upgraded to each new beta iteration, through the Release Candidate. I noticed various little changes and improvements all throughout.
I now have 8 installed on both my laptop and desktop (non-touchscreen on both). My desktop went a lot better than my laptop, only because my laptop is about seven years old right now and the AMD X1200 graphics on it are so old there is little compatibility for it. Even there, however, I was able to just go back to the laptop's manufacturer and download the Vista driver (last official driver update they had for it) and got my display working fine.
I have not experienced any critical problems. Of the few problems I've had, simply running the program in compatibility mode fixed that. Overall the system has been faster for me, and no not just because of a clean install. I haven't had the problems that people claim they have. That's not to say they are lying or anything like that, but simply that they may be experiencing something that I am not. For instance, some people shortly after 8 launched were claiming that their mouse wasn't working properly. I have never seen that on either of my installs, nor my brother's, and I have since not heard people talking about it much.
The Stat Button has become a Start Screen. Instead of launching into the desktop and heading to the bottom left corner of your screen for the start menu and looking through a list of programs in 7, in 8 you launch to a screen of tiles with all your programs, most of which will launch into your desktop when you click on them. To me the start screen isn't any less effective than the start menu. I hardly used the start menu anyway. Once I installed a program, there was usually a desktop icon. I'd drag that to the taskbar and delete the desktop link. For me then, the start menu was just a thing down there that I never touched.
As a whole I like the OS. It improved on 7 in every area i needed, and didn't do any worse in any area I need. That said, there are not a terrible amount of reasons to switch for most people who enjoy 7. That's not to say anything is bad or wrong with 8, but that there isn't a whole lot new or exciting about it. If you're into touch you'll absolutely love it I imagine. If not, you'll like it about as much as you like 7 so long as you don't get hung up on the looks of the start screen or the missing start button. Some things have moved around, but I don't see it as really being an issue of being harder to get to, as much as just put in a different place. I equate it to moving to a new house. Chances are that when you move, the house is going to be situated and laid out different than the last one. You don't necessarily store things in the same spot. Control Panel, for instance, is now accessed by the Charms menu on the right under Settings. But it's still on the start screen if you right-click and go to all apps, listed with the other systems programs. Yes, you can still game if you like. I've played StarCraft 2 with not issues at all (desktop).
My verdict? Look at these things; when will the next OS come out, can you wait that long. Unless you can get 8 for a deal from someone, the cheapest you can pay for 8 after Jan 31 is about $100, instead of $40. If you don't think you want to wait until the next OS launch, then upgrading now is probably a safe bet. Despite the grumblings in all reality it would be very unlikely the next windows OS will got back to looking like 7. They may tweak 8, and change a few things to satisfy some of the critics, but they won't go back to 8, so people will either have to get used to 8, or get used to whatever new thing they choose to do with 9. In my estimation $40 for a new OS that is an improvement of the existing is a good deal. But if you don't like it, don't just buy it for the sake of buying it.
Go to a store one more time, take a run around it there and see if you can get a better feel for it, then make your final decision.
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