With reference to Adamsapple's post, As I said (post #6), The Windows 8 boot manager does not work, at the moment, exactly like the old 7 manager. It actually operates as an integral part of Windows 8, and pops up just before, or close to, the logon. Of course, then it is very fast from that point to a Windows 8 desktop. Unfortunately, at that stage, if you wish to log in to your alternative OS, it reboots the computer - this is, naturally, a heavy time penalty.
But I am in agreement with whs. If you follow all the hints for booting Windows 7 a little faster, there is not such a big difference.
As has been said before, for the average Stationary user, are start up and close down times of such importance?