I use Word enough that I have gotten used to the 2007 version, albeit with the same sense of dislocation.

Coincidentally enough, over the weekend I read an article in CODE magazine (June 2013 issue) about changing user interfaces. The thesis was that for a commercial product, as opposed to in-house software, it is necessary but that there is a fine line between changing things and throwing existing users into confusion.

>>The very worst IMO, at least of the ones I have run into, is Excel 2007. I don't use Excel very often and every time I do it is an exercise in "Where did they hide this command?"
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>I have been so annoyed with Excel 2007 (and, to some extent, Word too) that after a couple of years I simply gave up on Office 2007 altogether and, when one of those "oh crap I have to reinstall everything" I went back to 2003. After yet another one, I didn't even bother with that. For what little I need, I use LibreOffice.