Yosemite - Opinion - Difficulties with installation

Question

The following is my personal opinion after having installed OS X 10.10 aka. Yosemite. I hope this is the right community to post this. I also had a little trouble with the installation. Perchance this'll help other people deal with similar dificulties.
Installation froze at the last stage. It said "about one minute" for more than half an hour. I eventually powered the Mac down, and after reboot installation would start from the beginning. Luckily, it didn't freeze again. I added some information from the log files at the end of this post, in case you're interested.
Folder icons are much brighter. On a white background (the default) they look like translucent and lack a sharp silhouette. The system font is no longer Lucida Grande but Helvetica Neue. This looks nice in the dock, but Lucida Grande definately looked better in the menu bar. The trashcan no longer looks like a basket but like a cheap rubber cup. It is so white, it sticks out quite ugly from the Dock. The hard drive icon looks like rubber too and lacks of a shadow beneath it, which makes it much less readable over certain desktop backgrounds. Mounted disk images, on the other hand, look a lot like SSDs, which is okay but pointless.
They removed the full-screen icon from window titles and redefined the green button to the left as the new fullscreen button. Windows that don't support fullscreen such as Finder windows will still maximize when the green button is clicked. To maximize a window that supports fullscreen, you can press and hold alt while clicking the green button. This may be something that needs some getting used to, but I like the new behaviour so far.
They removed the redundant Dock submenu from the Apple menu. There is still the menu over the Dock's separator line (the one that separates running applications from files and the trashcan), and of course there's the system settings panel. I like this change, because the Apple menu has looked cluttered up ever since OS 9.
Mavericks had a bug that you could open the collapsed side bar when you were trying to resize the window width by grabbing the window's left border. They seems to have fixed this. Or maybe I just forgot how to reproduce it.
(0) Spotlight now searches both your hard drives and the Internet. I find the latter both confusing and distracting, but luckily you can turn off this behaviour in the System settings.
(0) Spotlight now opens a window as soon as you click its magnifier icon. The window shows previews of the matches, which may turn out a nice feature. The window is non-draggable and has a fixed size, which is unfortunate. Moreover, it would be closed as soon as you click somewhere else. That's not as bad as it sounds, because you can see the previous results when you click the magnifier again, but still it feels pretty arbitrary.
Before Mavericks came, you could create an alias of a window's folder by pressing and holding command and option and dragging the icon that's shown in the window title bar. Since Mavericks, this no longer works, and Yosemite does not fix this. Luckily, command-clicking the window title to see the file path still works, as well as dragging the icon to move the folder. (I use the latter a lot to copy the path of a Finder window to an open Terminal.)
There is now a calculator in the notification centre. Yet another one? The system now comes with three calculators: one in the notification centre, one in the Dashboard, one in the Applications folder. The latter is the only one that can do more than just the basic arithmetic operations. As a programmer, I use both the scientific and the programmer's view quite a lot. The version that came with Mavericks definately looked better though, but all the functions seem to be still there, so I don't really care.
File tags (colours) are still as they were introduced in Mavericks. To switch tags, you still have to remove the tag, then go into the menu again to set the new tag. Tag colours are still fairly small dots, which makes them hard to spot in certain views.
Finder windows still sometimes forget the settings I do to them, and the option to disable both the toolbar and the sidebar still can't be made the default and has to be reassigned to folders again and again if you prefer this setting. This behaviour was introduced quite some time ago, I think it must have been 10.8. I hoped Yosemite would perhaps finally fix this, but I was mistaken.
Scrollbars still haven't got their arrows back. The arrows were removed with 10.8, I think, and I still badly miss them from time to time. Try scrolling in a large document and you'll know what I mean!
Yosemite still respects my ApplePersistence=NO setting. This is a flag that may be set to NO using the Terminal and the command "defaults" as root, which will turn off the strange and pointless ApplePersistent features they introduced with Mavericks. After setting it to NO, applications will never be automatically reopened at launch and Open/Save/SaveAs work again as they should. I'm very glad ApplePersistence=NO still works with Yosemite!
The text of window titles of some older applications as Microsoft Word 2008 or Textwrangler 4.5.3 are now drawn in a lighter grey than Finder windows and system applications, which makes these windows look as if they were inactive.
Appended: Some errors during installation.
Nothing got logged in system.log during the actual installation. That's probably normal, because system boots from a disk image when installing. So, no error messages here. The following is an extract from system.log when booting after I had done a forced shutdown as the installation progress got stuck:
Oct 17 15:06:22 localhost launchd[1]: assertion failed: 14A389: libsystem_stats.dylib + 3740 [1DB04436-5974-3F16-86CC-5FF5F390339C]: 0x26
Oct 17 15:06:22 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: assertion failed: 14A389: launchd + 193355 [55B9FF23-B298-321A-B776-CF7676586C04]: 0x2
Oct 17 15:06:22 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: assertion failed: 14A389: launchd + 193355 [55B9FF23-B298-321A-B776-CF7676586C04]: 0x2
Oct 17 15:06:39 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.alf): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Oct 17 15:06:39 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.autofsd): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Oct 17 15:06:40 karaboudjan3 opendirectoryd[50]: BUG in libdispatch: 14A389 - 2004 - 0x5
Oct 17 15:06:40 karaboudjan3 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.system): Service "com.apple.ManagedClient.startup" tried to hijack endpoint "com.apple.ManagedClient.age
Oct 17 15:06:41 karaboudjan3 kernel[0]: Notice - new kext com.apple.iokit.IOHIDSystem, v2.0 matches prelinked kext but can't determine if executables are the same (no UUIDs).
Oct 17 15:06:42 karaboudjan3 kernel[0]: Previous shutdown cause: 3
The install.log shows entries but with an incorrect time. I assume that's so because the disk image is set up for a different time zone. Anyway, here are a few entries:
Oct 17 05:09:10 localhost opendirectoryd[123]: opendirectoryd (build 382.0) launched - installer mode
Oct 17 05:09:55 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Repairing file system.
Oct 17 05:10:32 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: The volume MacintoshSSD appears to be OK.
Oct 17 05:10:32 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Repair completed successfully.
Oct 17 05:10:32 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Container dmg is missing universal diagnostics. This install will continue attempting to preserve existing diagnostic software...
Oct 17 05:10:32 Mac-Pro.home storagekitd[411]: Install recovery system operation began
Oct 17 05:12:46 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Free space is enough, will continue install.
Oct 17 05:22:40 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: postinstall: chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file /Volumes/MacintoshSSD/System/Library/User Template/Non_localized/Downloads/About Downloads.lp
Oct 17 05:22:41 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: postinstall: 2014-10-17 05:22:41.014 update_automator_cache[1673:74190] Error finding Automator.app by bundle identifier. Not calling LS for
Oct 17 05:22:41 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: postinstall: 2014-10-17 05:22 update_automator_cache[1673] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: ERROR: FSEvents_connect() => Unknown serv
Oct 17 05:24:06 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: PackageKit: 679.3s elapsed install time
Oct 17 05:24:06 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Starting post-upgrade migration /Volumes/MacintoshSSD/Recovered Items -> /Volumes/MacintoshSSD
Oct 17 05:24:14 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Starting Migration With Request :
Oct 17 05:24:14 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: UID Translation: Did not find existing user record on target system with name "pamberg"
Oct 17 05:24:14 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: UID Translation: Did not find existing user record on target system with name "admin"
Oct 17 05:24:14 Mac-Pro.home OSInstaller[410]: Attempt to use XPC with a MachService that has HideUntilCheckIn set. This will result in unpredictable behavior: com.apple.backupd.status.xpc
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Process:               backupd [2592]
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Path:                  /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Identifier:            backupd
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Version:               ???
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Parent Process:        launchd [1]
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Responsible:           backupd [2592]
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: User ID:               0
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Date/Time:             2014-10-17 05:24:14.593 -0700
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.10 (14A389)
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Report Version:        11
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Anonymous UUID:        65A99E21-C61E-462A-88D2-0BB4CE28E1EF
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Time Awake Since Boot: 920 seconds
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Crashed Thread:        0
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Exception Type:        EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Application Specific Information:
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Dyld Error Message:
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]:   Library not loaded: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/TimeMachine.framework/Versions/A/TimeMachine
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]:   Referenced from: /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]:   Reason: image not found
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: 
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]: Binary Images:
Oct 17 05:24:15 Mac-Pro.home ReportCrash[2595]:     0x7fff60097000 -     0x7fff600cd837  dyld (353.2.1) <4696A982-1500-34EC-9777-1EF7A03E2659> /usr/lib/dyld
28 megs of error messages follow...

Answer 1

Think you wanted your reply to be to pjonesCET1
But, I will give an opinion on your post --
You want to use Microsoft Office because of the robust nature of its elements.    Apples Iwork and prior to that Apple works - is at the level of Microsoft works - an stripped down piece of software that meets the need of many people.    Apple and Microsoft agreed to have a version of Microsoft office that could run on Apple devices. 
The of problems between versions of Maverick and Yosemite may have to to with apple releasing Yosemite before it was fully tested with Microsoft office - or the bug has been there awhile and Yosemite just brought it to the surface.
In general - when new level of software comes out - its not a complete re-write.   Commented out code that was replaced with new code is removed, along with indicators for new code and history of what the problem is are removed - giving clean code.   If the language has new structure, the code may be passed through a converted that, depending on detail reformats code into new statement structure.  
Sometimes bugs are added because a certified programmer just can't read existing code even their own - or just ignore standards and use a new instruction that is incompatible with existing code.
Microsoft does issue patches for existing software - so they may do that for your problem - but some problems can take a while to figure out just where they went wrong.