I think you are confusing "intuitive" with "what I am used to". If Windows was intuitive, nobody would ever need to take a basic computer class.
Any "basic computer class" I took involved how to use Windows programs, not Windows itself.
I have dad several basic computer classes over the years that covered several different OSs, and they all start out with the basics, like navigating the file system, opening/closing/saving files, switching users, you know... the basics.
It is not intuitive to click the Start button in order to shutdown a computer, or to right click on My Computer in order to navigate to the Device Manager. Nothing about Windows is any more intuitive than any other operating system; in fact, if you took people off the street who had never used a computer in their lives and sat them in front of different operating systems, I personally think that the learning curve would actually be lower for the *nix systems, provided that they are using a friendly desktop.
By the way, I used to teach a basic computer class for adults, and I had to show people how to log in, maximize and minimize windows, and even how to shut a computer down, and this was on Windows systems. Once they learned the basics, the I could teach them how to do more advanced stuff, like checking email or creating a document.