Ribbon myths and rumours dispelled

There has been a little flurry of rumours on the blogsphere including the ever excitable slashdot that we have radically changed the ribbon, making it much smaller.  Some are saying that we are even backing away from the ribbon or that we received "complaints" that it was too big.

I've checked with the source that is Jensen and his team and this is not the case.  All we can think of is that somebody got confused about the minimised ribbon feature which has been in there from the beginning.  There have been some recent improvements to the way the minimised ribbon works I suppose - e.g. a sort of "autohide" so that now it will return to a minimised state after using a feature.

Check out Jensen's posts which include videos of these features:

Part 1: Taking the minimized ribbon to the max

Part 2: Nice for mice: menu tabs

We remain very committed to the ribbon in both maximised and minimised forms and feedback has been very positive.

Not sure where this misinformation started but it seems it may have been one of our own people speculating in a presentation.

Microsoft Australia technical specialist John Hodgson said the change came about after complaints from some customers. "One of the feedbacks we got is that it takes up too much room," he said during a presentation at Tech.Ed 06 in Sydney.

Anyway, sorry John, this is just plain wrong.  Perhaps he was quoted out of context or something so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2006
  Phew. It took a little getting used to (like, a few days of normal use) but I'm a convert. I feared the worse when I read the news on /., but was a little skeptical given the source. Thanks for setting things straight.

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2006
  well argued Marc and I see what you mean now about it seeming like a concession.  This is being reported as Microsoft gives up on their ribbon idea though and that is definately a wrong perception which I wanted to correct.  thanks for the insight.

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2006
  PingBack from http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/08/26/office-team-corrects-news-about-its-new-ribbon/

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2006
  PingBack from http://crazyfactor.com/2006/08/26/office-team-corrects-news-about-its-new-%e2%80%9cribbon%e2%80%9d/

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2006
  PingBack from http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/08/27/office-2007-ribbon-will-not-be-smaller/

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2006
  At first the ribbon is a bid confusing, but after a little while, it works realy well.
  There are some features that I have been unable to find though. It would be nice if there was an integrated, converter like tool.

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2006
  I agree that it is the power users that are going to suffer the most. I consider myself to be quite adept at using Word and Outlook and I'm still (after a few months) trying to find some of the features.
  
  That said, for 80-90% of the average user, the ribbon interface is a winner. It really helps those people who don't absolutely know their way around.
  
  I just wish there was a solution for the people do DID know their way around and now don't 'cos it has all changed. I'll get there :-).

• Anonymous
  August 28, 2006
  Jensen finally puts this one to rest as he confirmed to me last week.  It is interesting how these...

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2006
  I downloaded the Beta 2 version of Microsoft Office. After one week of using it, I just hate it so much I’m ready to change. This is a classic case of focusing on the container instead of the content. It sure is all pretty, but the most basic functionalities have been hidden so well, I spend my time trying to find them. I had to customize menus to display simple functions such as “Save as” and Open new document, to sedn an email with an attachment, I have to change tab, attache, re-change tab and click on send, and after one week I have not found the button to rotate an object in PowerPoint. Since I now have lost all my points of references, I’m ready to give a try to something else. Google Office maybe.
  What were you guys thinking? The biggest barrier to competition for Office was that you guys defined the standard for Office UI. Like many others, I have perfected my Excel and Powerpoint skills over time with every Office upgrade and can now almost handle my documents with my eyes closed. It's like a riding a bike, you don't think about it, you just do it. Now that i need to rethink my all behavior, i may actually go for one of those web-based solutions.

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 31, 2006
  2 days to 2 weeks? Out of curiosity, what was the adjustment time for the previous updates? In my case, it was 0 seconds (new features were added, but the basic was still at the same place), so that sounds like a HUGE change, no?
  Another example, i was trying to open the powerpoint document with the object rotating issue: it used to be simple, the file menu was displaying my most recent 9 documents. i'd use this function to open 50% of my documents. Now? gone. I just spent 5 minutes looking for a way to quickly access the most recently opened documents and could not find it in any of the tabs or in the quick access toolbar.
  
  I cannot spend 5-10 min finding each function. I'm surprised you guys think that people will just endure this.
  
  Anyway, here is the document in question: it was created with Powerpoint 2003 and i was just trying to rotate the arrows differently. First when i select an arrow, the free rotate handle is gone, then the menu does not switch to the relevant tab and finally the rotate menu in the format tab does not give me a free rotate option, even when i click on "more rotating options" Not sure how deeper you expect me to search for that function, but i went back to 2003 to finish my document. See pic:
  
  http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=230508976&size=o
  Vincent

• Anonymous
  August 31, 2006
  Vincent, you are missing the point.  We have reached the end of the road with our past approach.  There is NO MORE ROOM for us to put any more into the product without moving to a contextual interface.  You don't have to tell me this is a radical change and with that is a certain amount of risk but we strongly believe we have to make this change now.  Read Jensen's blog, the arguement is compelling.  Also check the link which shows where features have gone.  In the case of recent docs, they haven't moved! Click the top left on the office transformer (where "file") used to be and its there. The PowerPoint example looks like a bug to me, it should look like the picture I posted.  send me an email and we can look into that together.  
  
  You are right, this release is by far the biggest we have put out for 10 years and the adjustment is going to larger than in the past.  Of course if you really hate it then just stick to 2003 :-)
  
  Drop me an email using the "email" link at the top of the blog.  

• Anonymous
  October 03, 2006
  Jensen finally puts this one to rest as he confirmed to me last week. It is interesting how these things

• Anonymous
  October 19, 2006
  The comment has been removed