Why not wait for Windows 10 which will be here later this year .It is rumoured that if you have Windows 8 or 8.1 the upgrade will be free or just a very small charge if you are using either of these Windows 8 OS .
You can set w8 to run from desktop just like w7.
When we upgraded from w8 to w8.1 it automatically runs from desktop. If we want to use the "tiles" or whatever they are called we can but choose not to.