I don't think that Perl is easy compared to many other languages, and I certainly don't think Perl is easy to learn.

But I don't think it's relevant when judging the usefulness of a language. It's easier to learn to ride a bike that it is to learn to drive a car. That doesn't mean people ditch their cars and replace them by bikes. Just because something is easier to learn, or it's not as rich as Perl doesn't mean it is as useful. (But that doesn't mean that something that is more useful is harder to learn).

Abigail