Office 12 to have Ribbon menu system

Dropdown menus have been de rigueur for computer applications for more years than we can remember. But, as Microsoft has rightly concluded, there are now so many of them, fielding such a vast array of functions, that they’ve become ever more confusing to the user.

Microsoft has been trying to get on top of the menu explosion for years. They even tried hiding menu items if you didn’t use them very often. The problem with that is finding the darn things again.

Office 12 will see a radical menu-stripping across the board. In will come a “Ribbon” toolbar with changing functions depending on the user’s activities (see screenshot of Powerpoint).

By contrast it seems, Windows Vista’s latest build has a variety of menu options which we assume will be tidied up before final shipment.
[From PC World]