I am technically savvy, and yet I still can't work out how to get/install wireless drivers for my Linux box.
Which Linux? Which wireless? I'd start by trying out madwifi. Works for me, but then I have one of the supported chipsets. Answer me a question, can Linux do everything the average user needs, without using the console?
Depends largely on what you imagine the "average user" needs. My grandmother uses Linux, and it does everything she needs, and she doesn't call me for free tech support nearly as often as she did back when she was using XP. Part of the problem appears to be one of terminology, Linux users speak Klingon, whereas Windows encourages useful layman analogies.
Bollocks. Part of the problem is you've already learned the Windows metaphors. Applying wallpaper to a desktop, and pressing the start button to switch something off, is not "layman analogies". It's just the metaphors you've already learned, and Linux uses a slightly different set.