If you have any specific suggestions for interface improvements I'm sure the Inkscape developers would like to hear them. They certainly spend a good deal of time thinking about how to optimize the interface so that it is easy for inexperienced users as well as efficient for the old pros. I may be wrong but I seem to recall that some of Inkscape' original UI design was inspired by Xara too. In any case, filing a Feature Request or posting to one of the mailing lists would probably be the best way to raise your concerns.
P.S. If you can't wait for 0.46, which is going to be very nice, you can get development builds for Windows here:
http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/?M=D
They are typically completely usable for day to day work, although some things, particularly new features, may change significantly from build to build.
Best,
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