I've considered Vibrams as well, but have been holding off due to the look. You can also try the Nike Free line, which were made with the barefoot running idea in mind. Those have been around for a few years.
The Vibrams give me the willies, too, so I actually used to order custom moccasins from a local boot factory until Feelmax came out with their shoe (I still wear the moccasins in the winter.)
There have been durability issues with them on tarmac as they were originally meant for trail/sand/dirt/grass use, but the newest iterations have remedied this a bit too.
I also haven't taken the Vibram plunge, but I can give you a huge thumbs up for the Free line. I've been doing almost all my running (40+ miles per week) in Free 5.0s since I switched over last fall, and they are reasonably comfortable and attractive as everyday walking shoes as well.
Yeah if you dont walk around barefoot much then the way to ease your feet into Vibrams would be to wear nike frees for a while. It'll help your feet adjust to the feeling.
