I'm using .NET 4.0 which is the latest technology and have to learn dnn because the company I'm working for is now using it. I have to agree I'm finding it very difficult and complex to use, the main reasons are - there is very little documentation, very few examples and the method and code required to creating custom modules is just overkill. fr'instance I was required to create a module so I first created it in a .aspx page it was a no brainer and took only one day. Then I started the dnn custom module version and it took me 2 weeks staying up most nights to do exactly the same thing (in fact I had to remove some functionallity from the original because I couldn't find any information on how to accomplish it).  

I think CMS is the future, I just think the approach dnn is using is wrong. I've keep my eye on SiteFinity and they are not there yet, but have the right idealogy. It's all about making sites easier to implement not harder, they are working on methods where you just  write your .ascx file and then just upload it into your installation without all the fuss of changing this, doing that and so on, the other bonus is they have good documentation. 

To me a good CMS is where you spend 90% on inspiration, 5% coding, 5% documentation & learning
Currently for dnn I spend 95% on finding documentation, 5% on coding and have no time for inspiration. 

For what it's worth - I've deployed ~100 DNN-based websites, at least 15 of which were users I converted from Joomla due to DNN's drop-dead simplicity for updating content (log in, click "edit content", save, done).  I will admit that when I first started (~v3.x) things were a bit overwhelming, but after spending time on the forums, watching/reading tutorials at DNNCreative.com and reverse-engineering default / other skins, I made significant progress.

All that being said, one thing I see pretty commonly here and other DNN-related forums is that many people who are wholly unfamiliar with basic HTML/CSS/Javascript are getting aggravated and annoyed by the 'complexity' of it all. All I can say to this is that with all the current complexity of CSS and Cross-browser development, to have to learn how to skin on top of learning HTML/CSS/JS development would be a bit daunting.

Personally, I started by taking the default skin and stripping it down to the bare essentials required for a DNN skin - the Navigation and Login control, and a content pane. From there, I just built HTML around it and built on my knowledge from there. Now, my skins aren't in nearly the same league as ones you'll see on Snowcovered or the Skin contest here, but my clients have been VERY pleased with the end product, most of all the ease of which they're able to update and maintain their own sites.

Finally, if you're going to nerd-rage then at least try to offer some details as to what gave you problems. It's possible you came across something nobody else had tried or maybe you just misunderstood how to implement a feature / idea. It's been very rare that I've seen questions go unanswered (unless, of course, the question had already been asked and answered several times already).

Just my $0.02.

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Wells Doty Jr
Online Content Development