The Mess That Is Windows 8

Just before Christmas my wife had need to buy a new laptop, unfortunately she had little option but to get Windows 8, since I hadn't seen it before I wasn't in a position to advise her against it.  I wonder if anyone else things Windows 8 is an abomination placed over the top of something that nearly worked which in turn is operating something that worked as well as it could.  I have seen little or no progress in windows as an operating system since Windows 95 and I consider Windows 8 to be a total abomination.  It appears that Microsoft, in desperation, have tried to produce something that might feel like Android, if only to someone who had never used an Android device.  To the casual user, such as myself and my wife, Windows 8 appears to consist of a layer which can be operated by a touch screen over the top of Windows 7.  The whole effect has been to make the thing nearly unusable on any device that doesn't have a touch screen, which is the majority of Windows devices.  To add insult to injury they even had the stupidity to remove the start button.  If the designers had any sense the whole top layer would be optional and the user should be able to turn it all off leaving Windows 7 visible and working.  I don't particularly like Windows 7 but it is far better than the mess that is Windows 8.  If anyone from MS reads this and would like to make the whole thing user friendly again please produce an update which allows the user to turn off the Windows 8 front including the irritating side bars and reinstate the proper start button.  After that stop messing about trying to update Windows it really isn't worth it, when you have done that START THINKING AGAIN AND WRITE A COMPLETELY NEW OPERATING SYSTEM.  STOP TRYING TO PATCH UP CRAP! IT DOESN'T WORK AND IT NEVER WILL.