I don't think they're doing it *just* to push people to Windows 8. Will that be a side effect they like? Yes, but I don't think that is the reason. I mean, Apple EOL's quicker than Microsoft. XP is almost parallel to OSX Puma. Apple doesn't even support hardware back that far, let alone OSX.
I don't like Windows 8, but 8.1 update 1 is pretty good. Has an option to boot directly to the desktop, and brings back a lot of the start menu stuff. There is also StarDock's start menu replacement for $5. I'm a Linux/OSX guy mainly, but haven't had much issue with Win8 when I have to use it for games.