Bingo! That's the perfect analogy for the insanity of the interface. Fortunately my Vista machine is just my secondary computer that I use in my weekend home, mainly for net surfing, because there's just no way I could deal it for my main computer. The Word interface is absolutely hopeless -- I gave up and just started using Works Word Processor. Trying to find the Edit - Paste Special function was so infuriating I nearly threw the machine out the window. Honestly, I can't recall if I ever found it. I know I tried on at least two occasions, and ending up making a mental note never to try again. It's not like the location of things makes any sense once you've found them (like finding headlights on the back of a car!), so it's impossible to remember.
In Office 2007, the undo and redo keys are next to the round button with the Windows logo in the upper left hand corner. I don’t like the new menus, and it took me forever to find them, but there they are. I’m posting from home on my real computer (a Mac) or I’d do a screen capture for you.
He, he! Found it online. Apparently you aren't the only one that had trouble finding it. I think you can get the paste special function from right clicking. If not, you can usually find the command by clicking on the top menu button and then looking through all the icons that come up across the screen underneath it. The icons have replaced the old pull down menus.
High level over view of the interface changes and some of the reasoning behind them
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx
More technical details of the interface and the reasons why it is like it is.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905530.aspx
If you wish to view the design guide see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa973809.aspx