The new UI is a pretty exciting addition to Office.  It revolutionizes the way we will do our information work.  The age old problem of 'Where do I find that tool or option' has been removed with new contextual tabs.  Microsoft did some market research and we found out that over 80% of the features users request are already in our products.  Users just didn't know where to find the function.  They were buried under layers of menus, tabs and buttons.

Paul Thurrott puts it very eloquently in his article on 'Office 12'.  These new 'tabs' allow users to intuitively move around the Office product within the correct context.  For example in Word the 'Write' tab is the default tab, Watson has identified the icons and components users click most frequently and Microsoft have put these functions within the 'Write' tab for word.  If a user wants to add content to their document they use the 'Insert' tab, to alter the page layout (Page Setup, Background, paragraph etc.) you use the 'Paragraph' tab.  Its a great way for users to realize the power of the Office system.  Another example is PowerPoint: The default tab is the 'Slides' tab.  If users want to make their slides look cool, they click the 'Design' tab and they can select from galleries of designs and options which enhance their presentations.  Another great part about this is when users hover over a design image, that image is temporarily applied to the deck, so the user can see what it would look like if applied.  I've only given a flavor of whats on offer, there are many more fantastic features to talk about. 

I'll publish more information on the new 'Office 12' product regularly.  Watch this space...

Mark.