I think there's more to it than that. The problem is, when you understand a piece of software well, you cannot, try as you might, put yourself in the position of someone who does not yet understand it. Developers who aren't aware of that are naturally going to be hostile to the suggestions of designers. Even as a developer who is aware of it, I have to force myself to listen sometimes to people who are telling me that some aspect of my app isn't as obvious to others as it is to me. I'm sure this experience is not unusual.
At which point I show the next person how I learned it. It's called training. The best way to do this is documentation.
Usability nazis want people to be able to ride a bike after 5 seconds. They devalue learning and understanding most if the time rather than achieve an equilibrium.
It's not that they devalue training, it's just that they're realists. You seem to believe that people are willing to learn how to use software slowly over time but the reality is that when a user gets frustrated they simply stop using the product and find an alternative even if it lacks features.
One thing I think we're all confused about is our definitions of users and target audiences. Obviously the users of CLI programs and other "power user" software are willing to take the time to read the manual and educate themselves. Software for these users doesmt require the kind of attention to design the article talks about. Then there are the average users and software they use. Things like word processors, GUI file managers, etc. Those users need their hands held with "dumbed down" and "pretty/glossy" design. You can still provide complex and powerful features to them but you have to design their software in a way that makes their first introduction very easy to use. Meanwhile you can provide options within settings menus and customizable toolbars for the veterans who already know how to use such tools. It's the best of both worlds and everyone wins.
There's also some software that you'd think only power users would use but then someone comes along and makes it accessible to the average user in a way that's easy for them to get into while still useful for the power user. GitHub's GUI app is a great example of that. They took something that we all assume only programmers and savvy users would get and designed it in such a way that makes it easily accessible for total newbies. Because of that there now people you'd never think would use a VCS like Git making heavy use of it. People like writers, graphic designers, bloggers, scrapbookers, and all sorts of "average users" are now using the thing that we thought only the power user's would touch. The best part is that even those familiar with the command line use of Git now use it because it makes their life easier too! We can totally take a lesson from that and apply it to these tools that we think don't need better design.
