office

MS Office Fluent user interface

Happy Friday everyone,

I'm working on an interface for a new product and considering using the MS
fluent user interface as a model instead of your basic menus. I've been
googling it this morning and there's actually a surprising lack of UX
writing on the subject - or I am simply not finding it.

I don't want to use something without having a good understanding of it
first. I did read this from MS

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx

Which is a fine overview but doesn't quite get too deep.

Microsoft to license Office 2007 UI system

"Today, we're 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."

I've never heard of anyone licensing a UI system before (separate from
a software system).

Is there any precedent for this? Can Microsoft actually require
licensing of the UI? Is it enforceable?