Type PO2 to get the old interface which has the labels off to the side of the dial. The long ones still get cut off and they're still small, but somewhat easier to read. Type PO3 to go back to the 'new' interface. I imagine saving your preference will make the old one the default, if not, change the runtimeprefsposer.ini in a text editor. Change USE_META_UI 1 to USE_META_UI 0. Backup the file first just in case.

I'd bet a fair amount of money that not using the native windows UI features was a way to have more commonality between the Windows and Mac versions. Hopefully with Poser 5, they will have a better cross-platform framework. Having two seperate native GUI versions would mean longer development time, and require more maintenance resources. They'd probably do Windows first and Mac users would have to wait.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken