I won't bother reciting all the things that are wrong with Windows 8, many other people have already done that in great detail. When the new "Update 1" leaked onto the Internet a few weeks ago I decided to give it a try.
The Update does make quite a few improvements and results in a system that is closer to what Windows 8 should have been in the first place. Closer, but not there. After installing the Update and doing a bit of wrangling, what you have is a system that looks and works very similar to Windows 7 except for:
(a) Uglier, shittier color scheme
(b) A "Start Screen" that takes up your entire desktop instead of a proper Start Menu that only uses the lower left quadrant, and you still don't have one of the best features that were introduced in Windows XP 12 years ago -- keeping a list of most recently used programs.
(3) Windows Explorer (now apparently renamed to File Explorer) now has the godawful "ribbon" abomination that makes it 10 times harder to use.
(d) All the other things that are wrong with Windows 8, such as installing a dozen useless "apps" on your desktop.
In other words, what's the point? Windows 8.1 Update 1 is just a shittier version of Windows 7.