Guru3D have posted that the new 8.1 update, which previews tomorrow, will have a Start menu almost reminiscent of the windows 7 Start menu. Hot corners can be disabled as well as booting straight to desktop.
How do they know this? Well Windows Server 2012 R2 already has the same options:
Link...
accessingstore
august release
customization
desktop
guru3d
hot corners
preview
rtm
start menu
update
user interface
windows 8.1
windows blue
windows features
windows server