What does this have to do with anything? Apple's iOS works on desktops and laptops, right? It doesn't. That's what I thought.
In my opinion, that is comparing apples and oranges. Besides that, the upgrade to Windows 8.1 has worked flawlessly for many people.
Try telling me that no one ever has any problems upgrading Mac OS X. Now, that would be comparable operating systems.
What it has to do is that Microsoft seems to be following RIM down the rabbit hole to destruction.
I have been in the beta program of every MS OS since Windows NT 3.1. I am part of the architecture and strategy group for a corporation with 25,000 PCs.
Microsoft had a model that worked: service packs on ISO distribution. That works well with the complexity of the code base of the Windows NT based kernel.
If they are going to change to a store-based model, to look more like Apple, and to have better control over piracy, they HAVE to get it right. If they had got it right, this thread would not exist.
As you point out, Windows is WAY more complex than iOS. It's WAY more functional. Guess what: so was the IBM mainframe. All the mainframe guys sneered at Windows that it's just a toy and not good enough for anything. Now the mainframes are gone and the PC rules.
Yet Redmond is saying the same things about iOS.
If they don't either fix the download/store model, or go back to SP ISOs, their user base will get frustrated and leave.