I agree, however some user-loved UX paradigms hold you back from moving the product forward (Faster buggy problem) and listening to your users complain about nostalgia slowly makes you less competitive once some other company launches a better, newer UX.

That being said, nothing is an excuse for a bad or confusing UX pattern -- and Windows 8 had plenty of those on TOP of removing the start button, making people less forgiving of its removal.