csound vs software synthesizer

[t <ton.strom@xxxxxx>]

hi, 

i have a question. i am just about starting to learn csound, which 
appears to me to be quite powerful though a completely different 
approach. though there are gui's etc available. i have not worked with 
them so far.
now a friend told me an opinion "csound is overrated" but could not 
remember why. this i do not take as a valid opinion. anyway, i would 
like to hear yours.
i would say it is just a different approach and it is very powerful, 
especially through the scalability and chross-platform philosophy. you 
can perfectly use it on a very slow machine and you can use it - 
obviously even for realtime synthesis - on a fast machine. but you can 
just as well generate complex pieces on a slow one if you like.

i would say csound makes you rely really on yourself and your imagery. 
you can use other people's patches, you don't have to. you can write it 
all from scratch. 

any opinions?

t.obias