Windows 8/8.1 is the only one that I 'hated'.
With Win7, Start->program, working, or Start->Documents->document, working. No extra typing involved.
I'm not afraid of having to do a little extra typing. Hell, I run Debian testing on my main unit, and use CLI. It's just extra hoops to jump through to get anywhere with Win8. Like not even having an option to go straight to your desktop without using the Start Screen, or leaving out the Start button. That was just retarded. And hmmm, seems that they reverted back to a classic desktop because the majority of people thought that Win8 sucked. I believe that Win8 would have been better off just calling itself a tablet version.
Win 7, assuming program is pinned to taskbar.
click
If accessing a specific document in program that supports jump lists (most programs do where this would be happening)
right click, click document
Win 8, assuming program is pinned to taskbar.
click
If accessing a specific document in program that supports jump lists (most programs do where this would be happening)
right click, click document
Win 7, assuming program is pinned in start menu.
start, program.
Win 8, assuming program is pinned to start.
start, program
Win 7, selecting recent document from start
start, recents, click file
Win 8, selecting recent document from start
start, start typing file name, click file
or open program and open file from there.
Win 7, opening unpinned program
start, all programs, program folder, click program
or start, start typing program name, click program
Win 8, opening unpinned program
start, down arrow, scroll to program, click program
or start, start typing program name, click program
or (assuming start is configured to take you to all apps first)
start, scroll to program, click program
There is only one situation where I think Windows 8 is conceivably slower. I don't know for sure, I've never used recent documents in the start menu, ever. But instead of complaining about it to everyone that would listen, I disabled it and moved on.
For basically EVERYTHING ELSE, the number of steps are exactly the same. Usability does not go down the toilet. It just takes some getting used to. In at least one case, it's even faster.
Backpedaling on the UI doesn't mean it was awful, it means consumers rejected it. Consumers have hated plenty of good products and supported plenty of terrible products. Betamax was the superior format. Also, see most reality shows. Refer to Top 40 radio. SACD should be mainstream today, but it isn't. Thunderbolt or DisplayPort should have replaced HDMI by now.
Consumer rejection or acceptance can not be used as a measure of how good something actually is, because it's obviously not true. It only measures what they like or dislike, and that does not correlate to quality.