RiplEy, I would take you seriously, but to do so would be an affront to your intelligence. Whatever your supposed expertise in computers, you need some help in reading comprehension. I do use win8 - my wife's laptop, remember? Of course 8 is a different OS, I am discussing why I prefer 7 - in my experience. Outside of a touch screen environment, the user interface of 8 is awful. If it weren't so bad, there would be no reason for add-ons or tweaks to make the user interface "just like 7." That is my point - get it? I also researched 7 and 8 before getting my OS. Did 8 offer any benefits over 7 that made living with 8 worth the aggravation? For what I need, it does not. I do not want to pay Microsoft to be a beta user and test their new OS. I would rather get one that works fine, has all the bugs worked out and a user interface designed for the desktop environment. If you want to be a Microsoft fanboy, go right ahead. But dismissing other's criticisms without taking the time to understand what that criticism is does not advance your cause.