Pete_M wrote:Linux is not ready for the person in the street, but that didnt stop Windows getting out there.
Err, nope!
The last Linux day workshop I did I took a complete bunch of systems beginners (Windoze users, but they'd never actually installed Windoze) and had them installing a system + desktop, doing word processing and power-point-like (i.e., OpenOffice Impress) stuff, and playing DVDs, within five hours. The ones that really picked it up quick then set up some servers (FTP, HTTP, NFS) to run over the local network they put together.
In my experience the biggest thing hampering Linux is Linux-heads. We need less systems engineers and more "people" with functional interpersonal communication skills.
E.g., a few years ago I complained to my local Linux User Group -- Oxford -- that they couldn't get "ordinary" members because they were far too technical and scared people off. So what did they do?... They organised a meeting to engage with the public... at which they explained the workings of the "Journalling File System" 
I'm not a Linux-head, I'm an electro-mechanical engineer -- and so I like things to work! (e.g., I've used Linux since 2001 and I've never once re-compiled the kernel! -- what's the point when yu can just work you way around a problem by other means). You can have technology that's years old, worth a few tens of quid, and yet it will do a lot of really useful things: you can play DVDs and watch/listen to most multimedia online, and you don't have to get geeky to do it. Basically you just follow a recipie: issue this command, load this file, connect to this website to get this file, and bingo... you too can have a region free DVD player to play cheap imported American DVDs., you can rip the copy-protected CDs that you buy, put the CD away in a locked cupboard for safe keeping (so it lasts for years because you're not going to scratch it) and play the MP3 (if you get one of those small cheap MP3 players it also uses a minute fraction of the power of a stereo amp).
Basically, if you have to spend hours tinkering with a system to get it working, get another system! (personally, I recommend Fedora 5 or 6, which you then customise using downloaded packages).
Re: power supplies and problem with the mains, there are also ways around that (but generally, you want to be using laptops for this). You can build off-grid power systems, again using junk (mostly old automotive components) to take power from small junk-made water/wind turbines, or if you can find someone to stump up some money, PV (but PV's a major pain in the arse -- I've been asked to consult on three African aid projects over the last few years and they've all failed because the funder's were not willing to stump up the money for the PV). Unfortunately I haven't managed to get any support to write-up my work in this area, but there's a few bits and pieces on the Salvage Server Project site.
PS. If anyone fancies seeing one of my previous recycled junk workshops, that worked rather well, go to http://www.fraw.org.uk/ssp/container/index.shtml and http://www.container-project.net/ for the update -- this is the sort of thing I used to do in my past life, before I became a writer and researcher on Peak Oil (sometimes I'm not sure if it was necessarily a good career change!).
I'm a builder does that mean I get a warm office n good car