I think most people fail to see the beauty of Win 8.1 in that it can run equally well on a tablet, a laptop or a desktop. It runs equally well on a system with or without a touch screen. Don't like the tiles? Don't use them.
As Bluegrass said above, if someone absolutely can't function without a Start menu, install Classic Shell and move on.
I have multiple machines that I bounce around on all day. Some run Win 7 while others run Win 8.1. I have no issues switching between the different OSes and barely notice when I do so.
MS is bringing back the Start menu in Windows 10 but it is a combination of the Start menu from Win 7 and the Start screen of Win 8.1, it has programs listed alphabetically in a text menu on the left side with the tiles on the right side. It remains to be seen whether Win 10 will be as popular as Win 7 or be panned like Win 8.
