Comment by samplatt

Menubars/toolbars were not n00b-friendly but great for anyone that used a computer for technical reasons.

Old Photoshop, any CAD software, Excel. Smaller buttons and more of them is a steeper learning curve but results in far superior day-to-day usability. You can still hold down [Alt] and see hotkeys, that wasn't unique to the Ribbon UI.

it's all very much an example of the "Look at what they need to mimic a fraction of our power" meme.