idea for 10.04

[Conrad Knauer]

(Only replying on ubuntu-devel-discuss + e-mail)

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 6:17 AM, Jonathan Aquilina
<eagles051387 at gmail.com> wrote:

> give the users at some point during the installation process options of what
> office suite browser and mail client they would like installed. the list of
> options will include the defaults of the respective desktops environments as
> well as alternative options.
>
> if you could provide feed back as to if this is a good idea, and if so how
> can i begin working on implementing it on lucid.

Short answer: this is a bad idea.

Longer answer: the whole point of an Ubuntu install is to keep it as
simple as possible with sane defaults; next people will say 'but why
not have choices for web browsers then?' and others will want media
player options and others will want game choice options and etc etc
etc.  You are trying to please everybody (e.g. note
http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2007/11/28/avoiding-failure-7-tips-not-to-try-to-please-everybody/)
but in the process the install will become much more of a chore,
especially for people (I suspect a significant majority) who would
just pick the defaults anyway.

Constructive criticism: a much better idea would be for users to
choose to run this *after* an install; much like the current "software
center" (formerly "software store") in Karmic except narrowed down to
just a few categories (e.g. "office suite browser and mail client" as
you suggested and maybe a few others, as I mentioned) which would be
of most interest to people (I would recommend limiting the categories,
otherwise you're just duplicating what's already available in
"Add/Remove...").  Be sure to make it very informative (text +
screenshots would be nice) so that users who don't know much about the
alternatives understand the differences.

Sincerely,
Conrad Knauer