I disagree. I use Thunderbird for its IMAP strengths, but for other uses, I think Outlook is one of the best apps MS has written. It works well, and is incredibly configurable even by semi-experts. Sure, it has weaknesses (PST files), but overall, it's a good piece of software.

I'm with you. I've used Word since Word II for DOS. I looked forward to the Ribbon with great anticipation. I hated it. Really, really hated it, despite using it daily for 8 months. I tried Open Office several times after that, but it just didn't provide the tools that I wanted, and it was awkward and clunky. In the end, I went back to Office 2003. I plan to stick with that for as long as possible. I'd go back to Office if it improved (2010 has a more configureable ribbon, but the trial version didn't convince me). I'd also be happy to move to Libre Office if *it* improved, but last I heard, they were planning to copy the Ribbon. It's kind of the same as with OSs - I tried Linux (several flavors) several times, but didn't care for it. Vista was a piece of ****. So I've mostly stuck with XP. The comparison falls apart with W7, which is better than Office 2010, though not really great. ***NOT trying to stir up rivalry here (nor a deluge of "well, you must not have done X"), just found the comparison interesting.***