According to some anonymous sources (with good track records), the Start menu won't be returning to Windows 8 later this year as part of Update 2. Instead, it may get pushed back until the next major Windows release, dubbed Threshold, in 2015. It isn't clear why Microsoft is holding back the Start menu, but my guess is that it would make for a nice (if ironic) "killer" feature to get people to upgrade to Threshold/Windows 9. It also isn't clear if Metro-apps-on-the-Desktop will be a Threshold feature, or if they'll make it into Update 2.