http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/09/coming-soon-changes-to-spreadsheets.html
<<Next week, we'll be introducing a new interface for our spreadsheet application, polishing up the navigation and making it look and feel like our word processing and presentation tools. At the top of the page, a new set of menus is the place to look for all of your favorite spreadsheet features. In the toolbar, we've concentrated the most commonly-used features as shortcuts to make formatting data easier and faster. And the Share menu (look for the big blue button) contains everything you need to invite people to work together, publish to the web and share with the world.>>

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9490/newtrixchromezg4.jpg

Since we have the same UI for all apps, why not to introduce chat in documents and presentation (editing view)?

Why do they need to warn us before they release the UI update? That's not normal. Have they ever done that before a UI update before?

Didn't they once pre-announce the change to their Google Docs start page interface? Not quite sure. Or's comment here seems to suggest so...
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/100662.html

Perhaps Google places Google Docs more in a business/ office environment than some of their other tools, and perhaps they think in this environment the admins or other employees expect a little bit of a warning?

Philipp, They did announce the Google Docs start page interface change a day in advanced.

<< Tomorrow we're going to release a new version of Docs & Spreadsheets, so keep your eyes peeled. We wanted to give you a bit of advance notice since things will look different when you log in. >>

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2007/06/changes-are-afoot.html

[Moved from "New spreadsheet design" – Tony]

I may be very late in the game (work has been keeping me to busy to steadily follow the blogoscoped :( ) but i refreshed a spreadsheet I was working on tonight and got a new spreadsheet editor

http://aefreedy.googlepages.com/NewSpreadsheeteditor.jpg

I know that the docs blog discussed this before

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/09/coming-soon-changes-to-spreadsheets.html

The tour button takes you here.

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=112475

(and there is a help menu. oooooo)

[Moved from "New spreadsheet design" – Tony]

I believe it's new :)

Good to have you back Avrohom!. :D

I hope they fix the html so that the document title is my document's name again. Now I have a bunch of tabs all named: "https:/...en_GB" in my browser. Not very useful if you have more than one spreadsheet open!

WTF ???

We still can't delete a spreadsheet from the File menu!
This is very annoying, and not consistent with Document and Presentation.
What a waste of time, especially when you use the Google Toolbar option to open .xls files in Docs.