One of the problems with hardware and Linux is it's currently very difficult to tell if a piece of hardware or software is compatible. Each distribution has subtle differences. Again, how can we reduce the risk and increase the reward.  The hardware side of things needs to be less scary.

II don't want to download and update drivers I want it to work and I want it to be totally predictable and totally invisible to me.

It's hard for users to figure out compatibility and drivers it's even harder for manufacturers. Remember the slide with all the distributions? Imagine the test matrix. Certification and logo programs may be one solution, there may be others but the experience needs to be simple. 

The bar for creating compatible driver has to be straight forward and unified across desktop distributions.