There's absolutely nothing wrong with being GUI-only oriented, and for
some Linux/UNIX variants it's the only way if you want to retain what
hair you may have left. :-)
Though I've been using Linux/UNIX for a long time, there is one system
that baffled me: AIX (from IBM). About the only command-line commands
it shares with everything else is "ls", "exit" and "date". :-) Then I
"found" smit, its GUI. Kinda neat, and it displays the command-line
commands and args it invokes in its lower window pane as a learning
aid and as confirmation of what it's about to do.
I haven't looked at any of the "Linux for Dummies" or similar books
(so maybe this has already been addressed), but what I believe is
required is an online hands-on tutorial to get newcomers up to speed
with Linux without any hassle.
Such a tutorial program "could" be the defining app. Just a though.
Oddly, one friend of a friend who was previously a Windows guy found
PCLOS on his eeePC to the the bee's knees and now he's a convert. So
what is he doing with his system that literally worked out of the box?
He writes articles while in coffee shops, handles email, surfs the
web, and seldom prints.
For him, rapid bootup and shutdown and WiFi were the defining issues.
Examining the past several weeks' articles here in ubuntulinux seems
to indicate WiFi is still "troublesome", so he would not be pleased.
What it looks like that Linux must become is a commodity for it to be
accepted by "the great unwashed". It has to be as easy and intuitive
to use as, say, a toaster, microwave, car, TV, etc.
It's not there yet, but the opportunity still exists for it to beat
Windows PCs and Macs to that goal. If I had the investment capital,
that's the approach I'd take.
Linux must also either be stable and/or perform updates silently and
unobtrusively -- even I'm ticked at times when I fire up a system to
do something and then, seconds later, am alerted there are 60MB of
bug fixes, security fixes, and enhancements that need to be installed
which delays me getting work done.