No you can't, which is good because it means that old look that 0.1% of people would use isn't in there slowing the computer and the Microsoft developers down.
That puts them several marks up.
If they already have the capability in the OS, then providing the old look and feel as an option is not going to slow the system down. You're talking nonsense to justify their behavior.
Also, your "0.1%" is pulled out of thin air. Fact is, a year on from release, Windows 8 has only just cracked 8% market share - slightly over one-sixth of 7's and just over one-fourth of
XP's. So the newer OS that acts closer to the old OS is six times as successful as the one that doesn't, and the old OS is still four times more popular than the new hotness. Those are't numbers that suggest that "0.1%" of people care about this.
I know you can't help being cranky, but it's not all about you.
And it's not about anybody else who just wants to use their computer the way they've always used their computer, either. Which is the reason behind those numbers up there. Microsoft has spent the last two years banging their head against the wall, failing to understand or accept that they can't just engineer their customers to fit the product they want to make - with Windows 8, with the Surface, with the XBone - and they're alienating the customers they
do have in the process. That's really stupid behavior for a business.