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I'd say 2003 is the last best version. It's the last version without ribbon and it is able to support OOXML with an addon. The UI experiments like partially hidden menus are all disableable if you don't want them.

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I concur except conveniently the Office 2007 compatibility pack is fully compatible with Office 2000. Microsoft took their page down but here is a mirror at download.com [1] and from this Stack Exchangw thread [2]

[1] https://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Office-Compatibility-Pac...

[2] https://superuser.com/questions/404902/microsoft-office-comp...

Yeah, Office 2003 is the sweet spot. It's also the last version that installs entirely offline, without any attempts to sign in or phone home for verification.

Office 2003 has usage telemetry, and was apparently quite useful when they were making Office 2007, because they knew what people actually used and how often.

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