I was happy with XP and felt that win7 was retrograde in the interface. Win8 looked like it was gearing up to compatibility with the windows phone, still a believable product at the time. Seems to be a rule of thumb: robust technologies help you to predict the future. Non-robust technologies do not help you predict what will replace them.
Ah, I see. For me, the phone-iness of it hurt a lot. If I wanted a phone, I'd have bought a phone... I also despise the websites that have decayed from efficient tools into Fischer-Price baby toy interfaces because of mobile, and W8 dipped into all that ire for me.