Hmph. I looked up Office 2007 to see if it was just hiding from you, and now I see. 'Ribbon' indeed. It eats way too much screen. It does say you can make the myspacey Ribbon thing relatively small (though this is NOT what any of us have been accustomed to think of as minimizing). Doesn't say anything about customizing tabs, though.
And you can add commands to the little toolbarrish thing by right-clicking the tool you want and choosing 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar', but you're right. This is horrible design. I can understand wanting to appeal to new users, but it should always have a 'revert to previous interface' choice. This is a nail in Microsoft's coffin.
Re: Are you allowed to change settings on this computer?
And you can add commands to the little toolbarrish thing by right-clicking the tool you want and choosing 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar', but you're right. This is horrible design. I can understand wanting to appeal to new users, but it should always have a 'revert to previous interface' choice. This is a nail in Microsoft's coffin.