Been wondering the same thing myself, since seeing them do that over at BuzzTV. Their attribute editor was always floating, and like you I couldn't work out how on earth to do it. Never had a need, so I forgot about it.
But you've renewed an interest, so I just looked in the built-it help, and it would seem that it's trivial.
To quote directly, "You can set an option in Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences to always open the Attribute Editor in a window instead of in the side panel."
Just go to the help, and do a search for "Open multiple Attribute Editors". Pick the first Tutorial; the one whose name matches the search string. that's where I found it anyway.
Enjoy all that screen acreage..
EDIT: Too slow! Parka's post wasn't there when I started.
Last edited by enhzflep; 21-11-2006 at 04:09 AM.