Because the market is shifting towards touch.
Stop looking at it from a hobbyist point of view. MS does not cater to us. Look at it from the average consumer point of view. Touch enabled PCs are going to soon outsell notebooks. Many companies are no longer producing netbooks. Touch enabled All-in-Ones and now 27" tablet/AIO hybrids are going to be what's in everyone's home. Hell, even I want the new Transformer All-in-One 24" tablet. Microsoft had to get themselves ahead of the curve. 60 million copies of Windows 8 have been sold as of this message, that's both retail, upgrade, and OEM.
For us "prosumers" or "hobbyist" we can still buy a new license of Windows 7, or if you want to be on the cutting edge, then get Windows 8, install Start8 and be happy.
Start 8 LITERALLY SOLVES all of your complaints. Metro is no longer the start menu. You get a Windows 7 start menu with the Windows 8 flat color scheme, you get a cool new Windows 8 logo start button, you can EVEN make it so that the Metro Start app runs inside the Start menu in a mini version and not go full screen. It has control panel, etc, etc. See screenshot:
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/features.asp
Windows 8 is faster, has more optimizations which offload work to the GPU, and starts up in half the time Windows 7 did.
In the end, it's all your preference, but please make it clear that it is your opinion you dislike Windows 8. Do not slander it and make it seem like because you hate it, that it is the worst OS in the world.