http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-said-...-8-7000002219/

Rafael Rivera, coauthor of the forthcoming Windows 8 Secrets, said he has verified that users cannot boot straight to the Desktop in Windows 8. With Windows 8 test builds, users could create shortcut that switches to the Windows 8 Desktop. Those who didn't want to boot to the tiled Start screen could schedule this shortcut to be activated immediately after a user logged onto Windows 8.
Basically, there used to be a workaround through a shortcut which when run, would send you to the desktop (similar to the "show desktop" shortcut or the "lock workstation" shortcut). Users would add this shortcut to their scheduled tasks to run immediately after logging in, sending them straight to their desktop. Microsoft removed this, and it wasn't even "leftover" code like the start button "hacks" were.