I use Windows 7, and I configure the task bar to XP-style non-stacked oblong buttons, I use Classic Start Menu to get an XP style menu - I absolutely loathe the Vista and 7 start menus - and I've just about completely given up on Windows Explorer, and mostly moved my file management to Cygwin bash in the terminal.

My strategy for dealing with MS changing Windows is to use non-MS software and isolate myself from them.