I simply cannot believe I missed this discussion, Microsoft trying to improve the usability of their Office applications by using a 'ribbon' style idea.
As Microsoft Office applications become more and more bloated with functionality that only gets used by power users, you'd think that it might be better to really look at the functionality set and consider removing some of it. With so much functionality it does, of course, make it difficult to navigate throught the myriad of menus. I think a good example of this is Apple's iWork applications - just compare the perceived functionality of 'Pages' to 'Word' and 'Keynote' to 'Powerpoint'. They offer totally adequate functionality, at a fraction of the 'bloat' of their Microsoft counterparts.
Remember those 'adaptive interface' menus on Microsoft Office of recent years? Yeah - Office apps would start shrinking the menus and hiding 'infrequently used' functionality. I remember being in close proximity to a group looking at adaptive interfaces - and I happen to agree on the major drawbacks... they don't work when you have a massive number of options. Why do you think Microsoft gave the user the ability to turn them off.
Well the 'ribbon' controls seem to be a rethink about the amount and placement of functionality within the Office products - which can only be a good thing. Listening to Julie Larson talk about this re-think is almost refreshing to hear from a Microsoft person... sounds a little Apple like?
Read more at blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/...
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