Microsoft acts as if users have no choice but to use the Windows 8 desktop. Alas, no. To my mind the sane business decision would be to have user selectable desktop of Windows 7 like and Metro Windows 8 type. It could be selectable by keyboard or run like a virtual machine, without all the VM overhead. That way users would have had time to learn how to remain productive with the new desktop shell and not suffer a learning curve and lost productivity while they do.
There is still a lot of confusion about the touch screen interface. A large majority of users don't have a touch screen laptop or desktop. That my be reversed in 5 to 7 years, but it isn't true now. The perception exists that without a touchscreen a person is stuck in a productivity degraded mode. That is a problem for Microsoft at least as much as it is for their customer base.

Microsoft reminds me of Lily Tomlin's Ernestine character. To paraphrase the inimitable Ms. Tomline ""We don't care; we don't have to. We're the Microsoft company." If they don't wake up fast that line may be as anachronistic as the original telephone company line.