No - Google Windows 8.1 hints and tips. I think it is better to adapt to it than change it. With 8.1, you can do pretty much everything with the mouse, though I tend to use a combination of mouse plus touch. It helps if a laptop has a decent trackpad, with gesture support, or if you use a touch enabled mouse.

Yes, if you want to use a start menu, or not to have to jump back to the start to use the Search-then-run functionality.

Having paid for Start8, it's pretty good, but I don't think it's enough better than Classic Shell to be really worth paying for.

I got the combination of Start8+Modern Mix, which is really nice and does not have an open source equivalent -- Modern Mix allows you to run "modern" apps in a Window, and makes them a good deal more useful if running on a regular laptop or desktop. One of the two upcoming Windows 8.1 updates (not sure if it's the coming soon Update 1 or the end-of-the-year Update) is supposedly going to have that functionality built in.

Get Classic Shell. Revert the interface to Win7 or XP. All the positives of Win 8 and none of the annoyances.

You never needed one of those utilities if you were OK with spending the time it takes to learn your way around Windows 8. However, if you felt better with one of those shells in 8.0, you'll still want it with 8.1.

I recently got my first Windows 8 machine (through work), a Microsoft Surface. Using it has revealed what problem MS thought Windows 8 was the solution for*, but I don't think the MS solution is very successful.

*The problem: how can we keep selling desktop-oriented software in an increasingly tablet-oriented world?

Perfect! Reverting to Win7 would be ideal in my case. Thanks everyone!