Why all the angst about the ribbon?
Just right click on the ribbon and choose to collapse it. All you are left with is the old drop down menus.
Tried that a long time ago. Collapsing the ribbon still does not give the “old” menu options. In Word 2016, for example, just to get started there is no “Format” option; no “Tables” option. Can’t use prior Alt + commands using keystrokes. The ribbon menus are not at all similar, collapsed or not.