In addition to releasing Windows Vista to consumers on January 30th Microsoft will also release Microsoft 2007 Office System which in my opinion has a greater change to its interface than Windows Vista. While somewhat different, Windows Vista still has Window XP and Windows 2000’s Start menu, Taskbar, Desktop, Control Panel, folder based file system and most of their other items. Office 2007’s user interface is completely different from its predecessors. In his review, the Wall Street Journal Personal Technology columnist Walter S. Mossberg describes the change:
And the latest version of the software suite, called Office 2007, due out Jan. 30, is a radical revision, the most dramatic overhaul in a decade or more. I don't use the word "radical" lightly. The entire user interface, the way you do things in these familiar old programs, has been thrown out and replaced with something new. In Word, Excel and PowerPoint, all of the menus are gone -- every one. None of the familiar toolbars have survived, either. In their place is a wide, tabbed band of icons at the top of the screen called the Ribbon. And there is no option to go back to the classic interface.
Mossberg states that after months of using the new version of Office and its Ribbon he finds it an improvement that allows users to more easily find the hidden features that already exist in the Office programs but they don’t know about. He suggests that Office 2007 is appropriate for non-power users concerned with the layout and design of documents. However the more knowledgeable you are about the commands in older versions the less the need for a change. Similarly the less complex your documents are, the less likely you need “hidden features” made available to you.
PC Magazine has an in-depth review while for more on the decision to revamp Office’s UI see Newsweek’s feature article.