Same here. Windows 8 is a clear improvement over Windows 7 once you acclimate to the new interface (which you only need to spend a tiny fraction of your time using anyway).
I've noticed that a lot of the criticism comes from people who tried Windows 8 in a VM, where it's difficult to hit the corners, and people who dabbled with dual booting it or using it on secondary machines, without truly committing to learning the new interface.
Not me. I installed Windows 8 as a partition. It was a nightmare. There are four corners of the screen that seem to do different things when you point there. After about two weeks of casual use, I gave up and went back to Windows 7. My head seriously hurt trying to remember (guess) which corner did what, in order to go "back and forth" between the different UI paradigms (which by the way is UNNECESSARY to have more than one paradigm on my UI).
I have no interest in the new "tablet" paradigm that's being forced onto desktops. It doesn't make sense. I dumped Ubuntu for a similar reason (Unity was/is awful) - I put up with it in Ubuntu for about 8 months. I now run Windows 7 and Linux Mint.
Now you may argue that I wasn't committed to learning the new UI after only two weeks, but you know what? It either works, or it doesn't. I could learn to walk with a warn-out hip and a limp, but it doesn't make it ideal or optimal.
Corners? Yeah, I don't like those either, and I hated Windows 8 at first.
But there turned out to be a simple solution: the Windows+letter shortcut keys. Start with the Windows key (literally), or use Windows+I for quick settings (power, wireless, etc.), Windows+X for power tools, or any of the other Windows+letter shortcuts.
After getting used to those keys I started to like Windows 8 after all. I'd always used the Windows key to open the Start menu on Windows 7 and earlier, there were just some new Windows+letter combinations in Windows 8. Handy stuff.
I'm not saying you should switch back to Windows 8 again, but if/when you do, just go through the whole alphabet trying every Windows+letter combination to see what they do. You won't need those four corners any more.
I've noticed that a lot of the criticism comes from people who tried Windows 8 in a VM, where it's difficult to hit the corners, and people who dabbled with dual booting it or using it on secondary machines, without truly committing to learning the new interface.