Windows 8 - love it or hate it, you won't escape it part III

I now have a new PC, it gave me the opportunity to install Windows 8 "the right way".  Sadly I only own Windows 8.0 upgrade, so I had to install my Win 7 then upgrade with my Win8 Upgrade DVD.
Not so bad, and I quickly made it behave more like Win7 with the addition of a proper start button.
BUT
I checked Windows Update before allowing it to activate automatically and found it was advising that 845meg of updates were awaiting.  With overheads this would have used more than a gig of data.  I only get 10gig of data a month on my plan, and I struggle to stay within this limit, so >1gig updates would have ruined my life for a month.
In the past (circa XP and later) updates could be provided on CD or downloaded and saved to memory stick, external hard drive, cd, etc.  I still hold XP SP1, SP2 and SP3 and similar for Vista for use as required.  But not Win8.1 now superseded by the stupidly named Win8.1Update.
Microsoft in their infinite stupidity require users of 8.0 to download the full 8.1Update through the MicrosoftShop (I guess I should be gratefull they do not require the install of first 8.1 and then 8.1Update).
Fortunately, if you are in my boat, you do not need to update from 8.0 - Microsoft will support this until 2016, so I assume this means all security updates will become available. Users who burned 600meg+ of data downloading 8.1 are out of luck - you MUST update to 8.1Update or you won't be supported after May 2014 (confusing isn't it - you're going to be treated like XP users).
I am staying with 8.0 until I can arrange to visit a friend with large download allowances, then I will take my box down and let it rip - of course I will take an image first in case I have to restore it - I have heard many reports that 8.1Update screws up - LOTS!!

Nice one Microsoft*

* Microsoft is a company in the USA that once upon a time wanted you to buy their operating system, but now just wants to piss you off by telling you what you are allowed to do and how much they intend to charge you for the priviledge (reminds me of a company called Telstra :-)