Office 7 !!!!!

I have been using Office 7 for a while now, and have to make a comment on the new UI.  I hate it, and for one very big reason, I had to re-learn how to the navigate the environment.  Why did microsoft see the need to radically change the look and feel of the application, this will, I am sure, alienate many users?  Scratch below the UI surface, and there are many new features like the Document Workflow, that are pretty interesting, tighter integration with SharePoint and the new Excel Services, also add to the upgraded product.  Even with the new feature sets, the UI has left me with a very bad taste, I am sure that I will get over this, as Microsoft will expect the masses to do as well.