The time/effort/money to required to update from 7 --> 8 --> 8.1 are NOT worth it.
If 8.1 offers any improvements, they're under the hood and not obvious. And of course you get a lot of annoyances thrown in as a bonus.
Do me a favor...all those who upgraded from 7, make a list of the "advantages" (say: ADVANTAGES) you now have over 7.
I have a separate launcher for any and all of my desktop shortcuts, eliminating clutter, segregating the desktop to be a pure scratch space for "new text documents" etc.
The emphasis on tile size and color along with the name under organized labeled columns of the Start screen makes more sense as a desktop icon replacement launcher. And this gives more levels of organization than a text menu can.
The new task manager (when revealed in full, not in the basic form) shows plenty of information.
Searching is more universal (from just your files, to files and internet choices) without initially opening File Explorer. This is not as ideal, since the subset search listings of your local stuff is just a subset, with no means of scrolling through the entire pulled search (I am assuming it pulled up that subset to quicken searching locally).
On an HTPC, the Start Screen works even better as a Start launcher. It has more visual emphasis needed rather than the text only emphasis of the Start menu.
BUT one has to own a Tablet PC to appreciate the full advantages of Windows 8.
Modern Internet Explorer, is the most full internet browsing option on a touchscreen ever to exist. It may not offer the full gauntlet of plugins/addons/extensions like the desktop IE, but browsing leaves you unhindered like on a typical mobile browser.
The Start screen even makes more sense as a launcher here versus the Start menu of the past in previous Tablet PCs. The charms bar can be pulled for searching and entered with the split thumb on-screen keyboard.
Coupled with a pen, desktop navigation on the go (or TouchMousePointer) can also be had with no problems. The main advantage in the long run is that since the laptop has bulk (when folded out with keyboard and screen) the Tablet PC can have options to be less bulky for certain deployed situations.
Live information on some tiles, effecitvely replaces widgets, while not being always present on the main working screen. This is not inherently useful on multiple monitored desktop setups with screen resolution and size to spare, but on a Tablet PC, a quick reveal of the live information and back to the working area by to taps of the Start button / Windows icon can get you on your way.
Ribbon interfaces, may not make much sense on the pure desktop since it takes slightly more vertical room for the bar, but on a Tablet PC, some of this can be appreciated in quick access functions.
And above all, there can be even less travel time with direct touching (desktop and modern) apps versus sliding the mouse pointer around (by mosue, trackpad, etc). Some of my desktop programs have seen this in play while I manipulate the main working cursor with my pen, but to switch with touching some interfaces on the side (pen or finger otherwise -given the proper scaling options of the desktop). Things like Manga Studio, for one, allowed me to take advantage of being able to do such.
