Comparing interfaces: should we assume that ease of use influences users' preference?

This paper reports a comparison of student preference for GUI and CLI interfaces as exemplified by the Apple Macintosh and IBM PC compatible. The paper considers one of the basic assumptions of interface research namely, that users will prefer the interface they find easier to use. The assumption has previously been considered intuitive, and there has been little research to consider the validity of such an assumption. This paper presents a summary of a quantitative analysis to show that the assumption is correct.