Change for the sake of change is irrelevant. (Like metro for non-touch displays)
Change for the sake of progress is useful. (Like the automobile)
Windows 8 interface for desktops is not useful, it's kind of a hindrance, at which point, it's change for the sake of change. Perhaps for tablets it's outstanding, but desktop is pointless. And there's no reason microsoft couldn't include the start menu as it's been since windows 95. Improve it and clean it up? Yes, but removing it has no value to the user, it's just change for the sake of change.
Change for progress like the automobile, jets, the computer, the smart phone, all those were practical changes to make life better for consumers, name one way windows 8 is such a change as to make life better for the consumer?
It's faster? I guess. if a second or two really matters to you. But then you'd buy an SSD instead, a much greater improvement then any OS could give. Not really making life better. Give me an computer/OS that boots my PC from a cold boot up, to in game (A modern game) in less then 20 seconds and I'll label it life changing. Right now with an SSD, it takes about 2-3 minutes combined. Mostly because the game takes forever to load.
It's more secure? I question that. Nothing is secure these days. Saying this OS is more secure then this one, is like saying Ford cars take less damage in a crash then Honda. When both are pretty equally smashed after impact. Again not really a life changing event.
When windows does something that truly changes the way a consumer does something, and that means, better then the old way, then it will be change for progress. But thus far, microsoft hasn't done that since they invented the start menu. All i've heard even from users of W8 is it's a hassle to work with even for industry veterans.
Maybe Windows 9 will do what 8 "should" have done.
If not, Linux is starting to pick up a bit in the gaming community, perhaps it will do better.
(Plus being open source, anyone can change an aspect they don't like all the way down to the core of the OS, by installing a new element or re-coding the original ^^)