The layout of the underlying button menu has also changed. Each Office application now sports a customized, window-spanning alternative view that combines information about the currently selected object (document, spreadsheet, e-mail message) with various actions and application-level configuration options. It's a clever way to eliminate one of the few remaining vestiges of Office's nested menu-driven past while serving to focus the user on the available actions or options. And since the view is context sensitive, it can adapt itself to match your current work status -- for example, switching its default display from a "recently opened files" view when working with a new and unsaved project to a comprehensive file info "dossier" view once you've saved the data to disk.

Of course, one of the biggest changes involves the product's core underpinnings. For the first time, Microsoft is offering a 64-bit version of Office. It's a clear nod to the success of the x64 edition of Windows Vista and tacit recognition of the fact that the 32-bit world's days are indeed numbered. And while I doubt that many casual users will feel a need to stretch Office's newfound 64-bit legs, I can think of a few Wall Street shops that will be thrilled to get their hands on an even beefier Excel for running those multigigabyte Monte Carlo simulations they just can't live without.