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I've just read that the new Office 2011 for MAC will have the Ribbon UI too. BUT ...
snip http://www.officeformac.com/blog/Office-for-Mac-2011-Behind-the-Scenes--Conversations--Templates-and-more)

Tying all of the new features together is the Office for Mac ribbon, designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery while also utilizing the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar giving you the best of both worlds.
/snip)

Apparently the MAC developers were able to include the option to use the old UI. Seems like they listened to Windoze user complaints.