xgrass for novices?

[Neel Smith]

Having played with xgrass at Reston and now here at home
for a grand total of probably < 1 normal working day,
I'm seriously considering using it as the only GIS
in an introductory course ("GIS in Archaeology") that I'm
scheduled to teach next year.  For first-timers, I would
prefer to work with a single system (I think the benefits
of comparing different systems are great for more 
experienced users, but may be outweighed by the struggle
to learn a new system for beginners).

Especially with menus as easy to redefine as re-editing
an xgrass-menu file, I think it ought to be possible to
bring them along gradually, and shield them from the full
power and glory of GRASS until they're ready to handle
some of its horrors, too.

Has anyone out there had similar thoughts?  How does xgrass
affect the perennial thread on introductory manuals/tutorials
for GRASS?

I'm glad to continue the discussion off-list, if you want to
get into specifics of how you teach GIS in your courses.

Neel Smith
nsmith at polar.bowdoin.edu