I want to downgrade back to WIndows 7. I cannot stand 8.

As a gaming platform it is excellent, it's pretty fast and runs smoothly, it actually makes games run better than Windows 7, the only downside that is not. Related to gaming is you got to get used to how files and folders are located now, the way you look things up is from that metro styled Windows button, it's basically a huge "take-the-whole-screen" start button, as in all your "pinned" files are there just like the start button, but it just so happen that it takes over the whole screen, and has an "app" mindset,  as a desktop user you can just ignore it, but if you want to use it, it's not bad, plus some of the casual games on it are fun like solitare, and some apps work great like audible(audiobook app) yeah and another thing you'll have to get used to the word "app" , it confuses me personally between big programs and phone apps

Can't use my online kindle properly, I am trying to teach my aging family members who got new computers and they aren't used to 8, You actually have to dig deeper to get the things you want. Somehow it feels slower than 7 but not as bad as Vista.

it was because it used to be a mess when it was first released.

Damn, that sucks that they've moved over to that. I'm glad that wasn't in effect before.

I just purchased a used Dell Optiplex 760 (Core 2 Duo system) and it came with a Windows Vista Business COA (along with Windows XP downgrade rights). I downgraded it to Windows XP. The system is obviously out of warranty as I purchased it used and it's a few years old now, so if something were to happen to it like the mobo dying, then my keys would be worthless (if Windows 8 was on it.)

You won't notice the difference on a High-end system with an SSD.

You will notice a big difference on devices such as Netbooks and anything with a 5400rpm hard drive, the difference on anything better than that will be relatively minimal.
It didn't make Minecraft run any smoother on my Intel Atom tablet, but it sure did make it load faster. :)

However, I found with my Resolution on my Desktop that I actually became less productive with Windows 8, so it seems I'm sticking with Windows 7 for the long term, at-least on my Desktop.

Teach people how to use the shortcut keys and just type what they want instead of using the mouse.  Its much faster than moving your mouse to the start button, move it through multiple menus then click on application.

Also get use to pinning most used options either on the Start menu or within the desktop to the menu bar.  I rarely ever use the start button because its slow and when I do I hit the windows key, type a few letters and my app is selected then hit enter.

Actually you can literally just type what you want when you're in the main tiles menu and it will bring it up (go try it, it's very nice)

OT: Windows 8 was hard to get used to at first but now that I have the hang of it I wouldn't trade it back for any other OS. It's faster, easier (after the initial "what the heck am I doing stage" lol), and has plenty of nice conveniences that IMO make it far better than Windows 7. With Windows 8.1 it's only going to get better.

Probably one of the big problems MS had is that they did not provide a really good traning video.  Its almost as if they expected users to work in windows in a particular way making the transistion to Window 8 easy.  

For myself, I had no problems.  I always pinned my most used stuff on the menu bar.  To find an App, lets say notpad.  I never used my mouse to click start, go to programs, Accessories, then notpad.  I always hit the windows key, typed in not then hit enter and I do this for pretty much any of the Applications I do not use that much.  

I will say that Windows 7 search brings up everything which I found better because it would search for outlook, word and other apps for keywords and bring them up as well.  Making for a more robust search tool.  You can still do the same thing in WIn 8 it just not from the windows search.

Seriously, nobody likes Windows 8 and this won't be any better.:P