I guess I'm just skeptical, then. I get irritated when I use them because there's a ton of stuff on the desktop and I still can't find where anything is. Certainly nothing about the experience that would make me want to switch to a Mac, although I assume that if I'd been using them instead of PCs all these years I'd be accustomed to it and not want to switch from the Mac.
It all gets very easy once you wean yourself from the Start menu, learn where all that stuff is on the Mac.
For rarely launched programs I don't even bother with the Applications folder (on Windows, Start, All Programs, on Mac always visible in Finder) or the Dock. For example, there's Disk Manager (on Windows, Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management -- or right-click my computer to get to Computer Management). I just cmd-space, type "disk" in Spotlight and hit Enter to run the Disk Manager. Six quick keystrokes is faster than a bunch of mouse navigation and doesn't clutter your normally-run programs space with something you rarely use.