How do I get the classic Excel menu back in Excel 2010

So have I - the new interface is much easier for new users to learn and the old short-cuts still work.  Having spent a relativly short time using the new interface I find it a great improvement.

Yes, the old shortcuts still work. IF YOU CAN REMEMBER THEM PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!!!! What about the vast majority of us who memorize enough of of keyboard shortcut to pop open the correct dropdown or submenu, and and look at the menu to choose a command. I am frustrated as ____ as I have to hit ALT and then peer around the big block letters that cover the icons and hope I can find the correct command. I can't use the arrow keys to select-- I have grab the mouse and click or use what appears to be randomly assigned shortcut letter........

I do NOT want to learn the new interface. It's a piece of ____ and no amount of accusing people of staying in the dark ages will change that.

Nope, Graham, your response was arrogant. Sorry. Your points might be mostly valid, but your reponse was arrogant, non-the-less. Sticking with 2003 is not always an option. Is it even still possible to buy a license for 2003? And Microsoft was arrogant to introduce such a drastic change to a program for which most of us have no option.

The ribbons are really nice, but the wholesale rearrangement of the grouping of the features and functions was unnecessary. They could have introduced the ribbon concept with the existing menu groupings and those of us that have been using Word since 1988 (on a Mac) could continue to work productively. The people most affected by these changes are the power users. I got Office 2007 in November 2009 because I switched employers and had no choice.

There is little I can do with 2007 that I was not able to do with 2003. The stuff that I do routinely takes me just as long to do with 2007 as it took to do with 2003. And the stuff that I'm still unfamiliar with takes significantly longer. Since I started using 2007, I have jotted down how long it took me to find features each time I had to go look for them (lately I've stopped keeping track since I've gained experience with 2007). Over the last 10 months, 2007 has cost me over 70 hours in lost productivity. My employer bills me out at $300/hr, so that is over $20,000 in lost revenue (although most of that lost time has been at the expense of my personal time, not my employer's). I might not be typical, but if all the rest of the users have experienced costs of even a tenth of that value to learn the new UI, the price is unacceptable. That kind of investment is only justified if there is a return. I really find it hard to believe that I will ever be able to recover the 70+ hours that I spent learning how to do things that I had already spent hundreds of hours leanring to do already. I can't see that much improvement in my productivity due to the ribbons.

I make and sell user interfaces for machinery and plant controls. If I started making my customers learn a completely new UI and could not show them a return on the time spent learning the new UI, I would quickly be without customers. But unlike Microsoft, I have competitors.

To me, a power user with a ton of time already invested in Office, the ribbons would have been a welcome improvement if the original menu grouping has not been abandoned. As it is, I have effectively spent my 2010 vacation relearning how to use Microsoft Office. Yeah, I'm bitter. And your answer was arrogant.

If you don't like change, you could stick with Office 2003. [...]

Boy, that is one unhelpful, arrogant answer. MVP, huh?

I've been using Word since ver 4 for DOS (and then Office in various incarnations). The ribbon is the most awful interface that ever graced that suite, and I don't know of a single *real end user* that likes it. Most absolutely hate it. Most end users don't have a choice which version they use. They can't "stick with Office 2003". Your answer shows you are not only arrogant, but out of touch with real world.

Thankfully there are third party addons that allow users that prefer language-based menus to a puke plate of klingon icons to restore some sanity and productivity. I came here hoping that some of the experts may have reviewed and compared those addons, but I can see I am in a wrong place.

We gave our users the right to vote, we let them look at Office 2010 and OpenOffice and the vote was 100% for OpenOffice.

So our 150 or so users will migrate to OpenOffice when they are ready. No need to fuss with some stupid menu ribbon thing.