Not only is there no ribbon, there is no handy toolbar at the top with buttons for saving and basic editing tools. It was just odd that after redoing the entire look and feel on Word 2007, that Microsoft chose to leave out the ribbon in this version. However, the first question upon opening Word was, 'Where's the ribbon?' This is good news to those users who dislike the ribbon (and there is nothing wrong with not liking the ribbon). The floating palettes had all the toolbars, for formatting, for styles, alignment, margins, etc. It was reassuring to find the familiar menu bar at the top of the screen, with menus for File, Edit, View, Insert, etc. Many things stayed the same in Office 2008 from previous versions.
It may have been too nave to assume that Office 2008 for Mac would fill a similar spot for Office 2007 on Windows. Office 2003 for Mac was fairly equivalent in look and feel with Office 2003 for Windows.
However, the changes to the core applications - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - seemed to be more in aesthetics rather than in functionality. True to form, Office 2008 is packed with all kinds of engaging gadgets and useful tools. It installed easily, and visually, it was pretty. There was a feeling of excitement at the CMP Channel Test Center when Office 2008 for Mac arrived in the mail.
