Windows 7: Window 8 opinions please

I know this is a windows 7 forum but I'm really interested to hear peoples views, opinions, thoughts etc on Windows 8 now it's been around a couple of months. I'm really happy with windows 7 and when I'm looking at getting a new PC in the coming months ( hopefully ) and I think to myself should I just stick with Windows 7 or make the jump.
I wish I could just take the improvements for example the Performance Increases of windows 8 without the weird stuff that comes with it like for example the Charms bar ?? which sounds like something a teenage girl would like do you know what I mean.

Metro
Decent on a touchscreen interface with its philosophy of big images and text to accomodate physically smaller displays. De-emphasis on multitasking and pretty GUIs to conserve battery life via lower CPU usage which might be useful on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones but is terrible for productivity.

Outright terrible on traditional desktops/laptops due to horridly low information density on physically larger displays, multitasking being essential on desktops/laptops for any level of productivity, and touchscreen interaction translating horribly to desktop form factors (laptops might be a hit-or-miss).

Windows Store
Hello Apple! With Metro only allowing installation of software from the Windows Store, where only software specifically approved by Microsoft can be listed, the Windows Store harbors the coming of a closed platform and ecosystem for Windows in the years to come; absolutely horrible from both ethical and practical POVs.

I agree that apple store/ and now the windows store stifle innovation for example on google play it's full of small companys or people who just develope apps in the share time great for customer and the smaller developers who have little or no start up money , google is open for anyone to developer a app , you don't see that on apple store do you. The open source development is one of the reasons why android is so popular ( well that what i think anyway)

it's crazy that so many people are using 3rd party apps to get rid of the metro interface and get back the good old start menu we all know and love, all that money Microsoft spent developing the metro interface and so many users want to get rid of it , sorry to coin a young persons phrase but 'fail'

If it hadn't been for the reduced price of getting the Windows 8 Pro upgrade I wouldn't have done it. With the addition of the Windows 7 start menu my copy of Windows 8 works just like 7, but now I have access to the features of Pro, at about a 1/3 of the cost.

It's like Facebook. You'll complain about the differences, but after a while you barely notice them. Providing you use a mouse or have a decent trackpad.

Littlejay, where did you get that from?

Windows 7 explorer for Windows 8

This has worked well for me. It actually lets you log into either the Windows 7 desktop, or the Windows 8 start screen. During installation of the program it will ask you for a Windows 7 installation disk, so it can import the Windows files it needs.

true whether or not we like it's here to stay and Microsoft will bring us kicking and screaming into 2013 whether we like it or not because otherwise we will lose features.
Now Windows 8 Pro is no longer on offer what are the main differences that a user is going to miss if they only opt for the basic windows 8 and not Windows 8 Pro. When i look at the Microsoft site it mainly mentions that windows 8 pro has better data protection and remote desktop connection. Are there things / functions a user is really going to miss if they opt for the basic rather than pro?

I think just the opportunity to only pay $10 to get Media Pack