There are one or two notable improvements, but it is a large shift. To make the desktop feel more like a table/phone seems like a risky move and where did Start Menu -> Search go... Do they really expect users to click several times to find the right "standard application" to then actually open and use it?! On 7 to open command prompt simply WIN key / Ctrl Esc and then type "cmd" enter... Windows 8 seems to have made it far more complex for the same end result..!
I think it would be a good idea to know what you're talking about before making posts like this.
The search has gone nowhere, press the windows button > type name of application you want > enter
For the command prompt? Just press windows button + x and click command prompt.
They are exactly the same in Windows 8 and Windows 7.
For navigating with the mouse, windows 8 is quicker. Press the windows button and choose the large tile that you can pin to the menu.