That's one of the reasons I hate Linux too and don't use it. The overbearing affinity for the goddamn command prompt. It's ridiculous. They're constantly trying to make Linux appeal more and more to the average mainstream PC user...well guess what? They don't use the command prompt during every single task on their computer! Whenever someone has a problem in Linux or wants to know how to do something, it's always the first thing they're sent to.
This is because BASH is quite possibly one of the most fantastic components of most Linux operating systems. It's incredibly powerful once you get to know how to use it. The GUI can be used for all major desktop uses (web browsing, email, music & video, games) however for making changes to your system a few commands typed in can be much quicker and easier than messing with settings. The DOS prompt is a joke compared to BASH, and the flexibility and power it has.
It does take some getting used to a command line but once you get comfortable with BASH, Linux as a whole becomes much much more comfortable.
I really wish Linux would change from a free-source. People will works their fingers to the bone to compete with the likes of Microsoft. If people had a purpose for developing Linux, and lets face it, money talks, OS progression would accelerate in leaps and bounds.
Its all very well promoting the free source, but its just not working. I would happily buy Linux if it could compete. People would design games, the operating system as we know it would flourish in a panic of "be-the-best" and we would all benefit.
I think it's a chicken-and-egg issue in part - no-one will go out on a limb and get their mainstream Linux OS into mainstream PCs because the chance of success is so low. Most major desktop apps and games are developed for Windows. Desktop users who have known Windows all their lives will find it hard to switch - it involves breaking away from all the software that they know how to use. There are viable (and often superior) alternatives around like Firefox, Opera, Thunderbird, Openoffice, etc but people don't know they are there. In order to make any sort of switch you need to gradually feel out what sort of software you need to get to replace the software you know. I've tried several times to switch entirely but I'm held back by the fact that Office 2007 is far superior to Openoffice, ChemDraw I can't get to work with Linux, and I play games occasionally.
There's more to just putting a viable distro out there (Red Hat and SuSE are two commercial comes-in-a-box-with-support distros for example) on peoples PCs - you need a great deal of education for people moreso to help them replace Windows apps with Linux ones than to actually use the Linux system.
Truf. Money talks. Right now it seems Linux is more like a weekend and free time thing that people develop for when they have time to or when they get donations for it. Which also means that all these random people design the GUI and other user interaction points of the OS according to what they like or what they personally feel is best, with no user research behind it and no user centered design principles to guide it.
This is true. However, rather than the one-size-fits-all Windows approach you have several different ones. Like minimalism to the extreme? Use Fluxbox as your window manager. Like a fully-fledged but easy to use one? GNOME. Like a fully-fledged window manager with all the toys and settings? KDE.
This can, however result in having several 80% complete alternatives rather than one 100% ready/polished one.
If there was real money behind it, however, like for Windows or OS X, Linux would seriously be going places. Free/open source is absolutely a great idea in general, but it doesn't seem to work well with something as huge and complex and involved as an operating system. Small and/or simple applications here and there, sure. But an OS...I dunno.
Red Hat and SuSE are just two commercial companies working with Linux. They tie all the gubbinz together into a usable, supportable operating system.
I bought SuSE 7.0 a number of years ago (2001-2002 IIRC) which came on 5 CDs (plus a DVD with the CD contents on it, I didn't have a DVD drive at the time though

), with two manuals, a case sticker and a period of telephone support. Such things exist, although the two examples have shifted quite far towards enterprise solutions.
Cheaper than Vista methinks:
https://www.redhat.com/apps/store/desktop/