I really like 8/8.1, so I'm a bit biased towards it. Before 8.1 came out, 7 was still my favorite operating system. The part that sucked was I first installed it on a computer that started out as a Vista machine. Once I built a computer with newer parts I didn't have any problems installing Windows 8 and having all of my hardware functioning appropriately.

My favorite part of 8/8.1 is the start screen (which is funny because this is the part of the OS that people hate the most). The start screen is full customizable and let's me keep my desktop and taskbar nice and clear and allows me to put whatever programs/shortcuts I want as charms and organize them however I want.