[quote=Nursle]
Linux can be really fun.It can also be a total pain in the ass, the most fun distro I've found for a non-tech savvy end-user is Ubuntu, but if you have a lot of experience with programming, and want to ditz around in the Kernel, you could always get gnome.
[/quote]

Sorry, but you really have no idea what you're talking about. Gnome has absolutely nothing to do with the kernel, GNOME is a window manager for Linux, the kernel essentially IS Linux. You don't have to be a programmer to use Linux, and even programmers don't necessarily mess around in the kernel. 

Changing window managers, such as from Unity to GNOME in Ubuntu, is as easy as a few clicks these days. Most widgets and extensions you'd want are already out there in the wild, ready to be downloaded and installed like any other applications. A normal user can go about their day without needing to understand programming in order to use these window managers just fine.