Removing the start button was a bad idea.

It had an interface that was supposed to be compatible with desktop and tablets at the same time, and as a result it wasn’t good at either.

The power off button was hidden behind the settings menu, which in turn was hidden behind some corner gesture menu. They seem to have taken the wrong lessons from Vim.

Eventually the worst things were fixed with 8.1, but that was too late to repair the reputation.