I don't think you're whining at all. Simply voicing your opinion, That's a big fail on Microsoft's part. Sounds like too big of a change. If users had the option to use the classic look then they could make the transition easier for users.
I think it's pretty cool that the Windows 8 upgrade is only $39.99. Much more in line with what the price of an upgrade should be. They obviously learned that price point from Apple. Although OSX Mountain Lion upgrade 10.8.2 is only $19.99 ... IMO MS should price it at $19.99 ... Also cool that the upgrade price can be used from Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. OSX upgrade requires that you're running 10.6.8 or greater so you have to incrementally upgrade which in the end costs more.
I personally run all Apple and Linux. I have virtual machines of pretty much every operating system but only use them for development purposes. OSX makes me much more efficient, I'm glad I left the PC world and got real computers. --- TMN has always run on linux. You really can't beat linux for website hosting.