Remember the hullabaloo over the fact that Windows 8 will drop the Start button in the ‘Consumer Preview’? Well, according to Paul Thurrot, it’s not going away anytime soon. It’s just no longer on the taskbar, that’s all.
Thurrott notes that Microsoft is planning to make the Start button a physical button. Why? Well, remember that Metro design for the Start screen? Well, that’s where Microsoft is heading, so it’s a bit redundant to have something on the taskbar to launch the screen where you can simply just press a button.
Also, it’s not like the keyboard isn’t going to change. See that Windows key on the keyboard? It’s still there, so press that and you’ll be taken to the Start screen. Or, alternatively, you can do the ye olde method of CTRL + ESC (as Thurrott notes).
Just because the magical button is going away on screen, it’s not the end of the world.