Yup. Emacs newbies I've observed seem quite happy with the menus (which
are actually quite a bit easier to understand than the toolbar; the
whole concept of "irritatingly slow to use" doesn't seem to be a problem
for some reason... :-)
I think in fact a big fancy toolbar is not particularly newbie-friendly
at all. Indeed, even as an "expert" user, I'm somewhat daunted by
typical toolbars and even after using a MS-style app for a long time,
only really seem to end up using a few common toolbar buttons.
I get the feeling that the massive extended toolbars really serve
somewhat the same role in a typical MS app that keybindings do in Emacs:
both are somewhat cryptic and take a fair bit of time to remember, but
are probably faster and more convenient than the menus -- once you have
learned them.