Windows 8(.1) is great and I've used it since it was released. Going back to Windows 7 is seriously slows down my productivity in almost every way and I find it fairly inhibiting. I can see how from an administration standpoint it becomes difficult, but as an independent user there is absolutely very little wrong with it and it is miles ahead of Windows 7.

Talking specifically about live tiles: I love that I am able to hit the Super/Windows key and immediately see an overview of all of the information I care about. This includes notes, emails, weather, calender and stocks. I don't see how it failed at all-- it's wonderful.

I think this "Windows 8 sucks" meme should die in a fire, because it's grossly inaccurate at best. And this is coming from someone who primarily uses an OS X-inspired GNU/Linux distro (Elementary OS) as a daily operating system.