PDC: Microsoft replaces menu bar with feature docks : Tom's Hard News

Tom's Hardware Guide: Tom's Hard News: "Microsoft chairman Bill gates announced at the PDC conference a major shift in how users will navigate through the firm's core applications. The menu and icon bar as we know them today are gone. They are substituted by what Microsoft calls 'ribbon' - docks providing more transparent access to the functionality of software.
Lack of functionality never was a usability problem in modern software. For years, however, the industry has been quoting research findings that users are not able finding certain features in applications and in fact used as little as 10 percent of the functionalities some programs offered. Microsoft came up with a new concept that aims to make embedded features more visible and accessible to users - rather than hiding them in the deep structures of sub-menus and folders. "