As perhaps a card-carrying member of the "I hate 8" fraternity, I'll say that in my case it's not MUI that's the problem, but the (half-hearted) way it's been implemented currently. As such I'll give a thumbs up to 8.1 (although I'm sticking to 7 at present - unless I can get a good deal on an 8.1+LeapMotion bundle) because it's at least giving some halfway house for folks who can't get MUI to "behave" for them.
And like you I pity MS - damned if they stick to their guns, and equally criticized if they try to react to customer demands. But in this case I think they got it exactly right - MUI-boot is default but if you don't like that then YOU can change it. Just as long as they don't do a(nother) half-hearted job and bury the option 10 levels down in some completely unrelated system control app.
Although it's probably at odds with what I said in the first paragraph I'm hoping that Windows9's MUI will remove the desktop altogether and that it's function, (as a way to collect links/files/etc that you need quick access to), be replaced by some folder in MUI - maybe "My Stuff" perhaps. That would - imho of course - be also compatible with phone and tablet uses of the UI and so closer to that Sauronesque "one UI to rule them all" that Redmond seems to be trying to achieve with MUI.
Really looking forward to the Windows9 Developer/Consumer Previews...