Microsoft adamant we use the Ribbon interface in Vista and beyond

Rumors are running rampant on the Web that Microsoft is planning to ribbonize Windows Vista’s built-in applications — WordPad and Paint. If you have been using Windows for a while, you surely recognize this as an extremely odd play for Microsoft. When have they ever taken a new technology designed for new applications and put it in older applications? Unless, it was supposed to have been there all along? If Ribbons had appeared in WordPad and Paint before Office 2007, would the UI transition have been as tough?

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll analyze the rumor that Microsoft is planning to add Ribbons to Windows Vista. As I do, I’ll explore the idea that it could be possible that Ribbons were supposed to have been a part of the Windows operating system’s built-in applications before they appeared in Office 2007.