following on from Rain, the dbswindow in A2003 was very easy to use. I find A2007 onwards much harder, although since I was shown the search bar, it's a bit easier.
the ribbon is horrible, unless I am missing something. In A2003, I could have a switchboard, and a top menu offering the same choices, with maybe 10 dropdowns off some options. With the ribbon, you get a miserly 3 options per "category".
Nothing to do with your query, but it's why I too stay in A2003 if I can.