I think you're missing the point. I'm not extolling OSS virtues and I have no delusions that somehow oss software is a panacea to the world's problems. I fully understand how important consistency is and I have actually done customer support.
Obviously you haven't thought this through otherwise you would notice that having a consistent interface and a standard set of packages with expected functionality is exactly what Asus have done (for example).
If you are suggesting that just because it is not the same interface as what people may have used in the past then that is somehow wrong, or prone to problems or hard to learn is self defeating. You will never get anywhere with an attitude like that.
As a company having your own interface and complete control over what runs, how the interface looks, behaves and how the user interacts with it is a huge boon, not a disadvantage.
I'm very sorry you think of anything different as scary but obviously the rest of the world does not agree with you and Asus has the sales to prove it.
If people are intimidated by it and it is so hard to learn then how on earth did it get rave reviews and millions of sales?
It's quite easy, as I'm sure you are well aware, to spread fear of "bad scary monsters" but the actual _evidence_ suggests otherwise.
And just in case you are too lazy to go google the thing for yourself, here you go:
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/18560/asus-boss-reveals-eee-sales.phtml
http://blog.laptopmag.com/asus-ceo-reveals-eee-pc-sales-numbers-plans-for-touch-eee-pcs-and-more-eee-family-products
Next time how bout doing some research hmm? Also note the some million units sold in the first quarter were mostly Linux based versions..