Windows XP was a great platform that some people are still happily using to this day. Windows 7 is by far my favorite OS from Microsoft, it's smooth, secure(ish), and I genrally have no problems using it.

Windows 8 and 8.1 however are horrific, it's clumsy, and makes simple tasks harder to to do which is the exact opposite of what an upgraded software should do. I ended up having to install a windows 7 emulator on my laptop just to make it usable. I have never used the tile screen once.

I can see what Microsoft were trying to do with a universal platform across different devices but the execution of the idea is terrible IMO.

-Dan.