I actually found Notes to be an amazing tool and found it to be a great system to work with. I just wish they kept the development going with a strong user experience in mind.
The UI was not for the Non-Tech crowd and even then drove everyone a little batty. F5 in Notes locked your account as opposed to Refresh and the like. Different parts of the program would have very different UIs. I didn't mind it.
They say more people use it now then ever but ....
I found my love of using PIM in Notes.