As someone who is new to Bitcoin, I totally agree that there should be an easier way to make sure my wallet is safe and secure. Even on a Linux machine, the wallet is stored in the same location by default. I do not like the idea of keeping my wallet on a USB stick; what if I lose it? Would it just be a copy of the wallet or the entire thing?
I think the idea of Wallet-on-USB-stick is perfectly valid for users who don't really understand the concept of a "virtual wallet", or file management for that matter. An Advanced user (or anyone who understands the implications and wants to back up his wallet onto another system for example) can just tick off the option in the program Preferences.
We need a wizard that would guide the novice user using the sw for the first time to allocate an empty 512MB-1GB USB stick for the purpose and label it "MY BITCOIN WALLET" and never lose it like they would not want to lose their physical wallets. The wizard would then format the thumb drive with a certain volume name, and that's how Bitcoin also identifies it as the Wallet.
I would - even though I consider myself an "expert user" - opt to use a USB drive instead of fooling around multiple copies of files around my machines. I'm usually more reliable in the physical world than in bits
...and I could take my wallet file to my friend's computer and (supposing I trust him) could then use his computer to do transactions.just my 2 bitcents.