I'm a pretty new biker; passed DAS in October 2015 with limited previous experience.
I much prefer riding over driving and only drew the line if it looked really horrible outside of the window so that meant plenty of riding over the winter.

Some things I have learned about winter riding...

Ice or heavy fog is bad. Take the car.

ACF50. I did mine just before the salt trucks started to come out and play. I didn't bother cleaning it again until they stopped, just an occasional go over with the hose pipe to keep the worst of what Wiltshire roads have to offer off. Everything cleaned up nicely (and have reapplied it) and no progression of existing corrosion, so it seems to work.

Tyres and brakes are important. More so in the winter. Previous owner of my bike didn't take very good care of either, overhauling them all in one hit was costly but it made a massive difference (especially one day when the wildlife decided to come out of the hedgerow and join in the fun).

I didn't notice too much difference between dry and wet riding. It's mostly common sense really, accel/decel more smoothly, try to avoid the vast quantities of heating oil on the Wiltshire roads, don't be a tit etc.

"Waterproof" is a relative term. I did get caught in the occasional downpour which meant sometimes having a wet jacket/trousers despite the bold claims of the sales blurb. To be fair I was always dry underneath (separate waterproof and thermal linings) but there were times when I was putting damp gear on the next morning which isn't pleasant. Cheap thermal t-shirts keep you toasty on the colder mornings.

Heated grips are awesome.

I was finding I was getting condensation on the bike in the garage and the beginnings of mildew on grips etc.
I bought a cheap oil filled radiator, started on minimum and adjusted it upwards each day until the condensation stopped.

In terms of differences between summer/winter riding...
I was very lucky with the weather when learning in the September. On my limited number of rides to/from the test centre I was preoccupied with controlling the seemingly monstrous bike I was riding but I remember sunshine and dry roads being a lot of fun, even though I was still a bit scared. I also remember there being wasps

I'm glad to have ridden over the winter, even if the learning curve was steep at times. It has taught me how to (and how not to) approach riding in a good mixture of weather and road conditions. I have also learned a lot about maintaining my bike.