I don't think anyone can really argue with the idea that common tasks are simpler to find and do with the ribbon interface (excepting the vertical screen real e

I don't think anyone can really argue with the idea that common tasks are simpler to find and do with the ribbon interface (excepting the vertical screen real estate issue). The issue with the ribbon is uncommon tasks; they were always hard to find, and people ended up memorizing the specific sequence of menus, shortcuts, and what have you that were necessary to access them. Then along comes the ribbon, and all of those memorized sequences are useless. That's the real issue: I used to know how to do this, and now I have no freaking clue. The online help is usually sufficient, but it still adds time to the process without adding any value. Also, another change that I've never really seen anyone comment on: the context-sensitive help (where you click the question-mark icon in the titlebar and then click on a widget to see a detailed tooltip description) was basically gutted (I think this was in 2003, so before the ribbon per se) and replaced with a generic and significantly truncated help page that's nearly useless.