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I'm not an expert but I think...
Hardware
pro: faster
con: more expensive
Software
pro: cheaper (or free)
con: slower
As for the learning curve, I know the software firewalls have a fairly steep learning curve (at least IPchains and IPmasqurade seemed somewhat complicated when lots of rules were needed), not sure if hardware is ready to go out of the box or if it needs load of tweaking too.
My guess is that everyone uses their firewall for different reasons, so they all have to be highly configurable... which means some learing needs to be done with either kind.
A hardware firewall is certainly the more professional way to go IMHO.
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