the speed of boot etc of W8.
It is worth noting that W8 "boots" quickly by not booting.
A full shutdown of W8 does not shut the computer down. It hibernates it. A subsequent boot un-hibernates the machine. It "refreshes" the drivers and all the apps are closed on "shutdown" but the bulk of the OS is hibernated.
Sometimes a proper reboot may be needed. Several steps are needed to get this to happen, there is no convenient button.
Look it up if required for full and correct details. Google [windows 8 hybrid boot].
Yet more microsoft simplexification.
Apparently their user testing lab reported that users only chose shutdown to close all their apps and did not actually care if the computer was working properly or not. Presto!