The crawl of the block chain is a major barrier to entry for new Bitcoin users. At one point I had the entire thing ready to go on another machine, but I ended up changing operating systems on it.
What I can tell you is that I've tried to get new people to use Bitcoin, only to be told that it was too much of a hassle due specifically to the block chain. Now that I'm trying to get started with Bitcoin again I'm finding that that is indeed the case. It would take me over a week to prepare my wallet for use, all while crippling my computer in the process with the heavy load of download/verification that takes place at the speed of smell.
I cannot be assed to go through that much trouble. Bitcoin is an amazing software and I really like it, but if I can't bypass this bottleneck without a degree in computer engineering then I'm going to move on. Is there any way to easily overcome this hurdle?
Not as of yet. You could use a client that doesn't download the entire blockchain, but that sort of defeats the purpose. Look at Electrum -- I've never used it, but it could be helpful.
In the future I see methods where you could get the blockchain (up to a certain date) from newsgroups, a torrent, maybe BTC vending machines will copy it to a USB key for you.
You could use blockchain.info as a wallet until your blockchain downloads, then move your BTC onto your new cold wallet (assuming it's not connected to the internet).
