According to , corporate vice president of Windows product management, the Ribbon will be adopted for many other Windows 7 applications from Microsoft as well as third-party vendors.

"This is one of the things we think will differentiate apps written for Windows 7, as opposed to those for earlier versions of Windows," Nash said in an interview today, as the company released the Windows 7 beta for public download.

Microsoft's site was eager to get their hands on the operating system, which Microsoft maintains will ship in early 2010, despite . Site traffic was so heavy that the company , but did not specify a new date.

Part of Microsoft's overall plan to modernize its user interfaces and catch up to Apple Inc. in this key area, the Ribbon replaces the drop-down menus, icons and toolbars that have dominated applications from Microsoft and most other vendors in the past two decades.

Proponents said the Ribbon an ever-increasing set of commands and features.