You don't have to show the Metro style start screen at all once the computer boots up. You can go right to the desktop with a click of the mouse,press of the enter key or the press of the Windows-D keys or if you have a touch screen, touch of a finger, or tap of a stylus.
Once there, you will find that the desktop looks very much the same as it does in Windows 7. You can still have tiled applications open across multiple monitors, applications shortcuts pinned to your taskbar, widgets on the screen, and icons on the desktop.