Weka is the best tool for data mining, it is easy to use, and it's free. The only problem I have with Weka is that it is quite slow to load the data into the system, because the GUI loads data from the database to the memory, but once loaded, it can be processed quickly. I am currently working on a larger project, where the amount of data is in the millions of rows, and I was wondering if there was any alternative, that would load the data faster. The learning curve isn't bad at all (but you should know your way around Linux/Unix). Once you get used to it, you'll find it easier than most tools available on the market today. Also, the community has been very helpful when I've had questions or problems.