Usability guru Jakob Nielsen says money is becoming less of a factor in keeping people from using the Internet well. In his own words:
"I'm extremely optimistic about the economic divide, which is vanishing rapidly in industrialized countries. The usability divide will take longer to close, but at least we know how to handle it -- it's simply a matter of deciding to do so. I'm very pessimistic about the empowerment divide, however, which I expect will only grow more severe in the future."
(Looks like he's still got an image-free website. Love it.)