That was kind of my point about the rough start, you won't get emacs to do the real work without putting time into figuring out how to get it to go.

The tutorial is more of a get you started and make sure you can actually edit text in emacs.

The most important parts of the tutorial are the how to save (which most people get to) and getting more help which is probably what people don't get to or understand. It isn't the best thing but it is okay if people make it through the end.

But you're right if you don't want to mess with your editor and `learn` emacs go for a starter kit or go for another editor with bells and whistles included.