8 wasn't nearly as bad as people think, and there were big improvements to the kernel that make it a definite improvement over 7.
The problem for most people was the Start screen, which if you could get past, left you with what was a really good OS.
Less ads and telemetry than 10, too.

You're absolutely right about this. 7 is basically a Vista service pack that got rebranded.
All of the "good stuff" people credit 7 with came in Vista.