Office (2007) UI is available, royalty-free

For software vendors who wish to incorporate the 2007 Microsoft Office User Interface into their own products, or for component vendors who wish to build Office UI components for use by other software vendors, Microsoft is now offering a royalty-free license to use the Office UI

The new Office user interface was a huge investment by Microsoft and the resulting intellectual property belongs to Microsoft.

Now Microsoft has come up with a way that they can share the design work they've done more broadly in a way that also protects the value of Microsoft's investment in this research and development.

They are announcing a licensing program for the 2007 Microsoft Office system user interface which allows virtually anyone to obtain a royalty-free license to use the new Office UI in a software product, including the Ribbon, galleries, the Mini Toolbar, and the rest of the user interface.

Have fun.