Quote - > Quote - Blender 3D is a free modeler with all of the features of a "professional tool," yet the Poser hobbyists--for the most part--won't even touch it. Why? Because--like the professional tools--it's hard to master. Poser by comparison is very easy to learn.

Quote - That is nonsense and untrue.  "The Poser hobbyists" includes myself, and I have two modeling apps installed on my machine now (Hexagon, Shade).  I use them when appropriate to use them.  Many many "Poser hobbyists" also mess with modeling apps when they feel the urge. 

From my experience I found Poser easier to learn than Shade, which is easier than learning Maya or XSI, which are easier than CATIA.

Easy means that I can get a picture done without the need to look in any manual and without spending more than a few minutes with program/renderengine specific settings.Further does easy mean that not everything is suddenly totally fucked up because I clicked the wrong button.
This way I came to the order of programs as listed above.
I have never attempted to seriously work with Blender because the other applications are available already.

Poser is more difficult if one makes use of the dynamic cloth and hair and the material room.
But this type of difficulty is not the same as the one that requires to look in a manual because there is nothing that hints the user about what he did wrong and there is no way to use logic to understand the way the program functions.