I too think that this is a real problem: I worked all the time exporting and
importing the attribute data for ArcGIS 9.X into Excel. ArcGIS works only
with .dbf files for attribute data, but its so much easier to edit and
process in Excel. I am really mad at Microsoft (ANYONE FROM MICROSOFT
READING THIS???!!!) for excluding this feature.
However, as I posted at an ESRI discussion board, the workaround is to open
the Excel 2007 file in Access and then export it as a dbf. So, Microsoft
still has the capability to export things as a dbf, it just forces you to
take the extra step of opening Access, importing the excel file, and then
exporting it as a dbf.
Had I known this before, I would NOT have upgraded to 2007. Its too late,
but for those of you who work with DBFs, DO NOT UPGRADE