Further, learning Windows may be easier than learning Unix, but running Unix after you've learned it is easier than running Windows. That's because you can only do with a GUI those things for which a button or menu item is specifically designed. But, you have to learn Unix. So, I consider the complexity argument a wash. For inexperienced users, you can configure their X Windows desktop with what they need, and most of the time they stay out of trouble just fine.
Desktop applications can be a different matter.
It depends on how committed you are to doing things in the way you're used to doing them. For example, even though word processors and desktop publishing systems are available under Unix, text processing solutions like LaTeX and SGML applications are more commonplace. Solutions often look different under Unix than Windows. For example, if you want to run a fax server, there are numerous commandline-type applications that run beautifully in a terminal window. They perform every bit as well or better than their pretty Windows equivalents, in most cases, but inexperienced users will probably prefer the attractive Windows applications, because the interface and its ease of use is what's important to them.