> to use Emacs to any extent where it's more useful than it's competitors, you have to learn the models it works in, a new programming language- and then there are a LOT of keystrokes
Let's take these claims one by one:
> you have to learn the models it works in
I read a book on Emacs and practiced along all within one week. At the end of the week, I was doing more with it than with any of the previous text editors I used.
Indeed, my desire to learn Emacs was explicitly to replace the other editors I was using - and I succeeded. Over the subsequent weeks, every time I encountered a situation where I said "Oh, I wish the feature I used in editor X existed in Emacs", a quick Google search told me how to set it up for Emacs.
> a new programming language
I was a power Emacs user for over 9 years before I learned Emacs Lisp. Clearly wrong claim.
> and then there are a LOT of keystrokes
While I'll admit you get more productive the more you learn, for most of those 9 years I did not know many keystrokes. Instead, you do M-x and the command. With completion systems like ido (the "simplest" of the powerful completion systems), you can quickly find the desired command just by guessing what it will be named.
I only started learning lots of keystrokes recently, using flashcard software. And even with that, I stopped after about a year once I learned how to use hydra.