Windows 8 - I want my START button!!!

Been fiddling more with Windows 8, and starting to hate it more and more.  The Start button is something so intuitive, so ingrained in my nature, that I can't function well without it.  Plus why is is that if I open anything in Win 8, I can't close it?  Where did the X in the upper-right corner go?  What crazy person redesigned this OS?  It's madness!!!