Although I've adapted to Windows 8, I can see why people struggle with it. They should have had the tiles on the Desktop where Gadgets used to be.
As for a Start Menu, Classic Shell gets the job done for free. I think Win8StartButton is the best of both worlds: a Start "Screen" that is not full-sized. Others sing the praises of Start8 as well.
All in all, Microsoft is so desperate to get mobile share that they rushed the Windows 8 Start Screen together on top of what is otherwise Windows 7. There's also some usability issues: it's not intuitive...Windows keys aside, most of the things I've learned I kind of "ran into":
1) Charms bar on the lower right -> Settings -> Power -> Shut down or restart
2) Drag an app from top to bottom to close
3) If in doubt, click a corner (doesn't work as well with touch--you have to slide from the right side to left to get Charms).
4) Right-click -> All Apps to get the "All Programs" equivalent in the Start Screen (or with touch, swipe from the bottom to the top -> All Apps).
5) Right-click the bottom left corner to get a menu with things like Control Panel, Run, Command Prompt, Command Prompt (admin), etc.
Again, none of this is intuitive. Microsoft rushed this out.
Hopefully with Windows 9 or Windows Blue, they'll have better tutorials and/or merge the two interfaces together better. Right now, it is schizophrenic.