Use of a computer shouldn't be a visual experience for most tasks. You have a mental model of what's going on, and then poke stuff to verify the model and to affect state.
> However, teaching the average person to use a new
> piece of software is near impossible without
> utilizing their incredible brain power for visual
> recognition.
This is a good point. Visual recognition helps with the first hurdle of learning.
But when users encounter complexity they'll look for their GUI tool to reach the right standard. GUI approaches don't scale well to complexity. You end up with industries surrounding successful GUI software to help people deal with what is now a constricting user interaction model.
There are other models to consider than GUI or CLI. The Bloomberg model offers discoverable, keyboard-driven interaction but nicely-formatted feedback. It's easy to teach too.
GUI tools can scale well for complexity. Just look at how an experienced user can drive CAD or finalcut. It is just a matter of learning the interface, and understanding the domain it targets.
I would argue that the real hurdle to learning is accessing and understanding the documentation. In this respect CLI has the advantage with man pages. With UI the easiest way of understanding is to ask another human, which has obvious limitations.
But when users encounter complexity they'll look for their GUI tool to reach the right standard. GUI approaches don't scale well to complexity. You end up with industries surrounding successful GUI software to help people deal with what is now a constricting user interaction model.
There are other models to consider than GUI or CLI. The Bloomberg model offers discoverable, keyboard-driven interaction but nicely-formatted feedback. It's easy to teach too.