Raspbian is probably the OS most used by Raspberry Pi users. It's Debian based and ships with perl, like most Linux distros. The Pi Zero is similar to the Raspberry Pi V1, single core (1GHz), some connectors replaced for their mini counterparts, no onboard networking. The Pi Zero is bundled along with the magazine "MagPi" issue 40, which retails at £5.99. It's in the shops now in the UK. As far as tweaking the base install to get more bang for your buck, here are some notes I made while tweaking a v1 Pi. Regards networking it'd be trivial to use a ESP8266 ($1-2 USD) to add WiFi to the Pi zero.
Update:
Regarding the next generation of programmers, there are many Pi based meet ups all around the UK, in schools, universities and libraries, not just hacker spaces. At these events people of all ages are introduced to programming by those with experience. This part is already happening. If your thoughts are that the lower price tag may accelerate this or increase the number of people using the devices for such things, I'd think it's likely.
