I have EQ7 and I like it, BUT I really enjoy the pattern making aspect of making quilts so it was a worthy investment.
Some say this software is hard, some say it's easy....I think it's just really not very intuitive. It doesn't quite do what I think it will do, or it doesn't quite do it the way I think it should. I'm a programmer and even aside from anything I'm writing/modifying myself, I use a LOT of software so I have definite ideas about how, generally speaking, one can get around within most software. EQ7 seems to break a lot of those rules/traditions so it's a little foreign-feeling to me. I actually have to READ the MANUAL! (shock, horror) ;-)
I actually think the less familiar you are with software in general the easier it might be to learn this software, just because you won't have as many preconceived ideas about how it's going to work. The manual and the in-program help files are pretty good, actually better than average I'd say. (But then again, it kind of HAS to be, since they're so unique!)
Having said all THAT...I like it despite the clumsiness. I design quilt after quilt after quilt on there (and actually sew a lot of them) and I love being able to try out new colorways with just a few clicks. I had a whole pile of quilts I'd designed on graph paper and colored with pencils and I have finally finished re-drawing them all into EQ and am very happy about that - now I can try any colors I want without having to draw it on paper!
The program has a lot of depth, as others noted, and I know it can do more than I know how to do with it right now. And I just ordered EQ Stitch so we'll see how that works.