Thank ${deity} for vi!

Perhaps, but why do developers need to do this? Previous versions allowed users to do this by recording macros and customizing the toolbars.

This is a very good point.

It makes an interesting contrast with the way MS designs their programming APIs. There, they say they try to make the common things easy but still make the complex things possible.

Do you have the feeling that there are some Microsoft sock puppets in this comment thread?

I do software development in both Java and .NET and am not affiliated with MS (although most of my work these days is in .NET).

I thought Jayson and I made several concrete points with only a small amount of snark added for fun.

The article you link to by Dale Franks made very good points, but his issues were directed at customizers, not regular users.

James and Steve were just demonstrating the old adage "learning is hard but knowing is easy" without really giving any concrete evidence that the new Office UI is inferior to the old.

The ribbon interface is extensible so maybe some enterprising third party developer will create a customizable ribbon panel that can be filled w/a menu and toolbars for users who fear change.

Perhaps, but why do developers need to do this? Previous versions allowed users to do this by recording macros and customizing the toolbars. Why all of the sudden do we now need programmers to create add-ins to replicate the customization that knowledgeable users could do in minutes with the previous versions?

That's my problem with the new interface.

The first question I asked myself when reading James' initial post was..."Who would use word to build web?"

I use DreamWeaver and those people who use word and pass me a page to publish are the bane of my existence. Word virtually pukes on every web thing it touches.

I've also used openoffice and have no problem with it, but unfortunately our company is married to access databases and so I must assimilate.

Honestly though, once I played with the new interface I got used to it pretty quickly.

At home I'm 100% Mac, so I'm certainly not biased toward MicroSucks.

I just don't hate the new Word as much as I thought I would.

Lunacy

When my spysweeper and anti-virus subscriptions expire, I'm going to Apple.

The ribbon interface is extensible so maybe some enterprising third party developer will create a customizable ribbon panel that can be filled w/a menu and toolbars for users who fear change.

"Who wouldn't want to spend 10 or 12 hours of valuable programming time, just to do the same interface customization you could do in 20 minutes in those older, obsolete versions of [Microsoft] Office?" Anyone? (Via James Joyner. I presume......

That occurred to me as well. I would have deleted them as a matter of course but they're at least clever enough not to have left the same comments under the same name on a bunch of blogs today.

many businesses may balk at the time & productivity loss of having _every single worker_ spend weeks re-learning how to efficiently do even the most basic tasks

If the current tools meet their needs, they can stick with them for years to come. Older versions of Office have viewers and converters for the new file formats.

Anyway, I'm sure MS is aware of this. They analyze every single key stroke and mouse click that Office users need to make to accomplish a task. Every change MS makes to the UI gets multiplied by the millions of users into billions of key strokes in their analysis.

There is always a learning curve with new stuff. I am happier now with the available productivity apps than I was in the days of Volkswriter on the PC and vi on Unix. Progress happens and people always complain about the changes because they are frustrating at first (I am including myself in the complainers, but we all get over it).

I wonder though if they aren’t killing (or at least molesting) the goose that lays the golden egg on this one… if it’s really that big a change, many businesses may balk at the time & productivity loss of having _every single worker_ spend weeks re-learning how to efficiently do even the most basic tasks.

If any worker needs weeks to re-learn how to effeciently work w/the new Office I'd argue that the company should replace them as they aren't very bright. The new interface is a big change and people will have to get used to it but learning how to do the basics is something that can easily be picked up in a couple of days of usage. The new interface is much more intuitive than the antiquated menu/toolbar structure we've been stuck w/because people are scared to death of change.

Not everything new is bad. Many an established writer was intimidated and hated computers in favor of their trusted typewriters when they were introduced but once they got over their fears and biases and gave the new device a shot they agreed it was a worthwhile advance and would never go back. The same thing applies w/Office 2007.