Imo the ribbon was a good answer to a bad question. The question being "How do we make sure users can find all those features we put in successive new releases"

Imo the ribbon was a good answer to a bad question. The question being "How do we make sure users can find all those features we put in successive new releases"? They came up with a solution that it easier for users to find new functionality, at the cost of degrading existing workflows. And the irony of the whole ribbon debacle is that they already came up with the correct solution (as proven by history) in Office XP - just put in a search bar for features.