Well, you can always add it to the quick launch bar, or in the case of Office 2010, customize the ribbon to add it.

I'd say it's missing by default because almost nobody really uses it. For most people, if they want to edit a message, they're forwarding it, and the message becomes editable when forwarding. Yeah, there's a lot of people who use some oddball tools a lot, but unfortunately just because you use it a lot doesn't mean it's a popular with other people.

Microsoft can't put every feature possible on the screen - that makes everything cluttered and just adds to the feeling of complexity to office.  So, yeah, they do have to decide what get put in the home tab, what gets put in a different tab, what goes into some sort of context sensitive menu, and what goes into the "command well" -  the list of commands that are available to be added to the Quick Access toolbar (and to the ribbon in 2010).

Sorry that the defaults aren't your favorites. It's very hard for any company to create defaults that please everybody.

If you absolutely can't find something, it's always available to be added to the Quick Access toolbar. You don't need to dig beyond that.

Once you place it on the Quick Access toolbar, it'll stay there always. So it's basically a one time issue IMO.

If you have a layout you like, in Office 2010 you can export/import the setup easily so you can copy it to other computers.

I think that's a matter of opinion, though. I'm a very visual person, and IMO icons make commands instantly recognizable rather than having to read every single line of text in a menu. Microsoft has put a lot of work into the tooltips, though. Every command should have a tooltip, and in the Quick Access customization, all of them should have labels.

Sorry that your favorites weren't the ones Microsoft decided to keep in the ribbon.  Rest assured, however, they're likely all to be in the Quick Access toolbar customization, and in the ribbon customization in 2010.

I share your beef. 

I spend more time managing email than I do responding/reading/sending.  It's not just that I work for an organization known for an attitude of cc everybody, it's also limitations on server space allotment (10 megs isn't much at all) and limitations on outlooks functionality.  I'd love to tell you that a better client would solve all my problems, but it really wouldn't----only kill the pain a little bit. 

Sad thing is, there is no email 2.0.  You could install xobni or something, but even that is a comparatively shallow solution to what are pretty deep problems. 

Biggest reason for upgrading to 2010 myself is that I'm a student, and OneNote 2010 adds equation support, which is great for math classes. That, plus students get a good discount as well .

OneNote is probably the one application that doesn't have a good equivalent in other office suites.

I'm was a huge OneNote fan.  But since I moved to the dark side, I use Basket.  http://basket.kde.org/ 

I probably would have agreed with you on that a few years ago, but: 

It might come down to usage habits.  I really don't have much use for voice recording or handwriting recognition.  The feature that made the switch a no brainer for me:  the ability to sling notes/images/anything with just hot keys.  That and the super karamba theme is pretty pimp as well. 

FWIW:  I'm pretty certain Basket is available in just about every major distro's repository.  But you're right, you do have to step to the darkside to get a hold of the goodness.  And, I do run MSO on a virtualized xp install but I'm pretty sure it runs in WINE as well.