Hey there Naja,

If you're comfortable using Maya 7 you'll get used to Maya 8 in no time. There are a few differences in the menu systems and polygons are now referred to as mesh but overall the user experience is pretty much the same.

I would consider whether it's absolutely necessary for you to change before you took the plunge though as it's a costly upgrade. I would have stuck with Maya 7 if I had the choice but my university upgraded so, if I wanted to take my uni work home with me, I needed Maya 8 as you can't open newer version files on older versions of Maya.

If you're working on your own, I would stick with whichever version you have until you need to upgrade due to industry pressure.

Hope that helps a bit,

Mat.