We understand it. We've done it. We may be MS-to-Linux migrants or vice versa but we understand the technology and the process.
The average mouth-breathing home user would no more try that process - complete with text editing of config files and IP addresses - than they would walking on their hands. It's nearly incomprehensible - even the helpers are confused - and that thread had a successful outcome! Just imagine multiplying that by millions of users, computers, printers, etc. especially on Christmas morning. Madness.
Option 1: call Microsoft support or the OEM support line
Option 2: go to puppylinux.com and rely on the kindness of strangers as well as their punctuality and patience
Is Option 2 really a panacea in terms of widespread adoption? Don't worry, Aunt Sue, just register for the forum ('How do I register?' etc.), post your question, sit back and wait and hope, then wade through gibberish like '/usr/lib/cups/filter/cpdftocps failed.' Aunt Sue may have no clue about /usr/lib/cups/filter/cpdftocps but she certainly can understand the failed part.
HP laser printers are ubiquitous. Aunt Sue goes to hp.com where she has downloaded Windows printers many times. Get the file, install it and off you go.
Aunt Sue chooses a Linux driver. She gets this: 
N/A don't stand for North America!
But Sue perseveres. She clicks to the next screen:
She frowns at 'HP does not provide telephone support for Linux printing.' But she clicks again:
Sue is agreeable. She is willing to learn about HPLIP but at this point she still hasn't tracked down a driver and isn't sure she wants to become the family Linux trailblazer when all she wants is to print the digital photo she took of her nephew before he leaves.
I am not a Linux hater nor am I a Microsoft apologist given their shocking track record. Lord knows it seems like they've cost me as much money as I've earned through their products. But the flexibility of Linux and the nearly infinite distros ensure that market fragmentation is a fact of life even for good versions, smart users and user-friendly software (apps/drivers). On the other hand, the Linux devotees seem married to the idea that because Linux isn't Microsoft all its other idiosyncracies are immaterial.
Admittedly Red Hat and some others have made inroads in the standardization/support arena but open-source, ironically, cripples branding because Joe Sixpack can't pick up a box at Best Buy and see one, two or three recognizable logos to check for compatibility with his systems as long as the market continues to pursue highly specialized, individualized configurations.