- HotDog

- Macromedia HomeSite

- Dreamweaver

- Borland Delphi

all used ribbon UIs before Microsoft patented it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Homesite-2.5.png

Then again, I'm getting old so maybe people didn't use a lot of these apps.

That's incorrect. TFA has links to information about why that's incorrect.

In brief, however, the Ribbon is context-sensitive. Whether that deserves a patent, and whether any software should be patentable, IANAL.

So, context sensitivity is not in it's self novel.

EX: Only showing spells after the character learns them, or disabling Magic menu for non magic characters.

Now if they want a narrow patent that covers say hair dryers but not floor heaters that's not as hard to defend. But narrow patents are also less useful.

JRPG's had both context sensitivity and nested tabable menus.

If they have some very narrow definition that's allowed, but a wide scope invites a wider range of prior art.