I'm using Windows 8 in a VM, and I'm liking it just fine. I just think of it as: instead of a Start menu, we now have a start screen - that's it. Most of the time (ie. when you don't need to access the Start menu), you never see the Metro side of it at all, so it just looks like W7 to me. But, yes, that means there's no reason to upgrade to W8.

I'm in the same boat. I really like W8, and I think it's a shame it's getting a bad rap because it's different. I'd give it a shot with an open mind for a day or two.

It's fantastic on a multi-monitor setup; the start screen and full screen apps can be anchored to one screen. So if you want to read a PDF full screen, for example, while doing desktop work on another, it works very well.

Also, you can have multiple task bars on multiple screens if you want. And you can do almost everything with the keyboard that I used to use the mouse for.

If you miss the start menu, try this: hit the windows key and start typing the name of the program you want to open.

I would have to say that everything you described as a positive for Win8 can be done now in Win7. Well, unless they introduced new keyboard shortcuts. Not to discredit your opinion on Win8 though, if you like it then that's cool.

It can be done, but it's much faster in Win8, for example. The start menu search in Win7 is noticably slower.

And there are new shortcuts, like "Windows-x." It's the closest I've come in a while to feeling as productive as in my old FVWM setup.