The regulation picture has gotten a lot clearer in the U.S. and most of Europe. And that's fantastic. I think that's why you're seeing companies like Microsoft and Dell accepting Bitcoins.
You really want some natural way for people to get Bitcoins, as part of their paycheck or some other activity so they can turn around and spend them. It's much better if the Bitcoin economy is a self-contained thing.
My salary is converted to bitcoin, and taxes are taken out. You have to do all the tax computations in dollars because the IRS does not deal in bitcoins.
In the future, I expect to see bitcoin mining in places where electricity is free or cheap. You could put solar array in the Arizona desert attached to bitcoin miners, and instead of trying to ship that electricity all over world, you could ship Bitcoin all over the world.