Even though I paid $149 for W8 Pro OEM on disk from a retail computer shop, I am still not yet using it as my flagship, but as a backup for at least a few months until any issues are resolved.
But with Ex7ForW8 hack importing Explorer 7, Orb Start Menu & Aero, and shutting down, not removing, Metro, with direct boot to desktop and logging in with local account so no MS cloud gargage or apps ... plus the W7 suite of games being available from MDL ... it scrubs up fairly well. Even so I don't feel compelled to ditch W7 Ultimate retail which cost $421.
In fact I felt I hadn't really got my money's worth out of Vista Ultimate, and was using it as backup prior to installing W8. With a decent CPU, mobo, RAM and SATA3 SSD HD, Vista is a very worthy performer.
Obviously W8 had to be stripped out to work on smartfones/tablets, which accounts for the fast boot/shut down times, but that leaves it very bland. Not really an excitement machine, but useable.
Truth is I'm probably hooked on having the latest gizmo!