Making Microsoft Office on the Mac look more PC-like

I think you mean more Windows like, NOT PC like.

The Mac OS runs on a PC. Windows runs on a PC. Linux runs on a PC. PC just means Personal Computer. Macs are Personal Computers (PC)

*sigh*
I suppose it's only reasonable that a long-time PC Office user would want the Mac version to look and act the same (or as closely as possible). I am a long-time PCOU myself, though I learned to use Office on a Mac before I was forced to use the Windows version in my job.

The first M$oft app I ever used was Word 1.0 for Macintosh, on my Mac Plus. However, I first learned to do pc word processing in MacWrite. Anybody who remembers those days knows what a mess Word 1 was. Mac Word 3.0 brought many improvements to Microsoft's use of the Mac UI, and keyboard commands for virtually all operations. It was a vast improvement (many thanks to Charles Simonyi), but at the same time it signaled that Mac users would have to learn the Windows way of doing things. Though Word (and Excel, which I believe was introduced on the Mac before Windows) has worked mostly well enough to excellent on the Mac since those days, Office for Mac has remained essentially a Windows app adapted to the Mac GUI. (This despite the claims of M$oft's Mac Business Unit that Office for Mac is a from-ground-up "native" Mac application.)

I regret having had to adjust to one after other tiers of buttons that takes up valuable screen real estate and boggles the mind. But at least it reminds me fondly of those old days when I first set my teeth against Microsoft for life.

OK I got it to work for office 2008. Apparently you have to click that oval button at the top right corner of the document screen (which I had no idea what it would do). This made everything show up in the document window.

Why? One of the things I love about Office for the Mac vs the PC version is the palette!!!!! I wish the Office PC guys would head over to the Mac side and learn a thing or 2 abut UI design.

Dangit I hate the ribbon interface... I can't find anything in Office 2007. I could find anything I wanted in 2003.. But no... They had to completely redo it so office users had COMPLETELY relearn what they'd known since almost the first office version...

I hate complicated word processors. I used word for years. and now in my last semester of college I finally found the best word processor, Bean. It's simple and easy to use. Everything is where it should be. I'm not writing a goddamn book, I'm writing college essays. I don't need to put footnotes, and all this stupid stuff, just like 90% of people in the world don't need to. I wish Bean would be more compatible with office because it is the standard, but I really hate office. It's slow on every computer I've ever used, and nothing is logically laid out.

The palette is necessary on the Mac, and I'd feel sad to lose it. In fact, on my work PC, I've customized the Office programs to make them more bearable. I really hate them so much. But the best use of a formatting palette? Try the free, nimble, and delightful Mac word processor Bean. It will read/write Office 2007, 2003, text, RTF, and other files. And did I mention it is free?

No one got the side joke eh?

It's the cluttering of icons and mess that makes up Windows.

Nice . . . if you're just plain crazy!

Try getting the formula bar in Excel to stay in a logical place in 2008 for MAC