MSGID: 1:379/45 ef1f6950
 REPLY: 1:379/45 b0deb046
 TZUTC: -0500
 CHARSET: PC-8
From: John Beckett 

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
news::
> Microsoft has decided to replace the menu/toolbar with the
> ribbon design and forcefeed us the ribbon paradigm.

While I totally agree that a lot of Microsoft's stuff in recent years has been
totally irritating, we need some reality checks here.

I know several people who instinctively change the XP Start menu to
"classic"
(or whatever it's called - the result is that the XP desktop looks more like
Windows 2000). Frankly, the majority of these people are idiots. If they put a
tiny amount of effort into figuring out what the XP Start menu does they would
realise that the new stuff has many benefits. At least they would be making an
informed decision if they wanted to switch it to classic.

I remember the months of whining that went on when File Manager was replaced
with Explorer. OMG - you have to have two instances of Explorer open to do some
of the stuff you could do in File Manager! I bet the chief whiners would be
totally lost if they were now confronted with File Manager - OMG I can't do a
Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+X) followed by a Ctrl+V somewhere else!

In fact, I remember the whining that went on when Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V etc were
chosen as the new shortcuts for copy/paste. Again, Microsoft has been proven to
be correct. They recognised that Ctrl+C etc were better than Ctrl+Ins etc, and
tore up the old rule book.

So, whereas I dread confronting the "ribbon" when I finally upgrade, I know
that it should get a fair trial before being discarded.

We won't know for another six months of so whether the change in IE menus is
good or bad, or whether the ribbon in Office is clever or stupid.

John

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5