Mike,
I know you can turn off Clippy -- and many other unneeded features. However, it's been my experience that novices have a lot of trouble learning Word because of the large number of features that it comes with. My concept would be to give them a product they can grow with as they learn. What I see happening is that there are so many features available, which is great if you need them, but is confusing to novices who don't need them. I do a lot of word-processing, but I don't use many of the features, and they just clutter up my screen, create 'bloat' and in many cases interfere with my work until I spend the time finding out what's going on and turn them off or change them appropriately. Now I don't have the same complaint about VFP, which is very rich in features, and is designed for very advanced work. I can't think of anything there I would want 'turned off'.

....if we are to continue this discussion, I wonder if we should create a different thread???

Pete