Actually I’m a fan of having a start menu but I also used some other apps and launchers, even a dock (RocketDock is one of the most useful apps for me and it’s a shame it never received the x64 version).

Used 8.1 for years and didn’t need to reinstall it even once. I appreciate it for its technical side. From what I understand it was developed together with the mobile version so it’s somewhat lighter on resources. It also lacks aero which adds to that.