I've been using Windows 8 for over a year...and...I do like Windows 8.1, Desktop Mode is fast and clean looking. I am trying to limit the amount of Windows applications I install - at this point I have only installed 4: Chrome, Evernote, Skitch and ParaPlan (see below). SkyDrive integration comes out of the box, so I use it. SkyDrive is awesome in my opinion and I have 25GB of space too. Since I don't have Office, I now have two choices for viewing/editing spreadsheets: Google Sheets or SkyDrive's Excel Web App. The Excel Web App has more functions I need like CLEAN( ), but both work great. I have everything in the cloud using Google Drive, SkyDrive, DropBox and Evernote. Each has there own place for what I use them for. I dumped Microsoft Word a while back since Google Docs now handles images, tables and WYSIWYG better. I also use the Google Launcher instead of my Start button...
Now for the Start Screen - I hate it and never use it. I have tried to install some Metro apps like Evernote and Facebook, but they are clunky, load slow and are hard to use. I snap over to my Start Screen to check the weather or search only. Hey Microsoft...don't make me move my mouse to the corners (or sides) of the screen to do stuff please. Thank God for 'Boot to Desktop'...here is what my Start Screen looks like :(...
