I've read through a bunch of the responses and it really does come down to people being very resistant to change or learning something new.
People clamouring for an OS of 20 years ago (Win 95/XP style Start Menu) while bashing Win 8.1 is evidence of this.
I've used most consumer versions of Windows since Windows 3.0. There are always changes along the way. Some better than others, but overall I would say I'm more productive on Win 8.1 than previous versions.
Removing the Charms Bar is a mistake. Even though my touch screen stopped working months ago, I still find that's how I start any application that I need that's not pinned to my task bar. A quick loop with a mouse, or swipe in from the side on the touchpad on my laptop and it pops up. Click on search, type what I want and there it is.
Under XP et al, I'd have to scroll to find what I'm looking for. I think that being forced to change through this change made in Windows 8.1 has made me much more productive. I'm not sure what other changes have been so horrible, other than the fact that it's not the same as 20 years ago. I haven't been forced to see the Metro UI if I don't want to in Win 8.1, so I'm not sure what the issue is with that either. My laptop always starts up to the desktop.
For those worried about grandma not knowing how to use the computer anymore, there is a solution. A company out in Cupertino that hasn't changed the way they do things on one particular OS they've used for almost 10 years.
I won't be running to Windows 10, at least not on my HTPC until WMC is reintroduced, but that's another story for another thread. Some of us still use our Xbox 360 as an extender and I use it for live OTA TV through my HD HomeRun which has a much better tuner (picks up more channels) than my TV does.