1 Not had today's pocky Pixy ?

Not sure about customisation. But I've found the ribbon to be ok. Its actually a tabbed toolbar to logically group more functions together. Plus they can squeeze oh so many more controls on since they've got the entire toolbar to do it.

At least thats how I see it.

Hiding it away is fine with me as well as it gives more visual workspace. On the Latitude D630 screen space isn't so much an issue. However my new X61 only sports a 1024x768 screen so hiding everything away isn't such a bad idea.

In fact I'm hiding the whole ribbon when not in use.

Its just different in my book.

2 Ah... this would be why I have implored people who are used to the older versions of Office to not upgrade.  It's the kind of thing that can drive you nuts.  You "knew" how it all worked... now you don't.  *sigh*

3 When I evaluated Vista and Office 2007, I decided that I'd rather upgrade the entire company to Vista than give anyone a copy of Office 2007. At least with Vista, 99% of users would spend a few minutes figuring out where their everyday tasks got moved to, and then be happy. Most of them live in Office, though, and operate it by reflex; UI changes there are much more significant.

Naturally, you can still buy XP, but new Office 2003 licenses are just a dream.

-j

4 You should try Lotus 1-2-3.  Amazing power and ease!  The trick is in the forward /.

5

Hehe, I thought I was the only one who found this incredibly annoying.

The first time I opened it I was like "wtf where is edit???"

Vista and Office 2007 are just awful.  Never before has an upgrade been such a downgrade in functionality and ease-of-use.

I tried to avoid Vista, but Dell wouldn't sell the new video cards without it.

6 I hear ya, Pixy. But that's why I use Open Office

7 I just started using Office 2007 and, frankly, I think this is the best interface move Microsoft has made for anything. I still think Vista is a worthless upgrade to XP and so on, but the Office 2007 ribbon is actually quite functional once you get over the learning curve.

And as a student of usability, this is a better idea than menus upon menus with billions of hidden options. I will give props to M$ when they (rarely) get things right, and this is something they got right.

8

I've had serious problems with Office.

Outlook just stops sending/receiving, with no notice or error.  You don't realize anything is odd until you notice you haven't gotten any email for a long time. 

The ability to right-click suddenly goes away for no apparent reason (I assume this is a Vista problem more so than Office).  It also causes you to be unable to select a window from a group, or toggle Desktop.  Very very bad.