Mint Install customization options

[SeriesOfTubes]

After installing MInt, I almost routinely uninstall certain packages like Thunderbird, Totem, Pidgin, GIMP, Transmission and others. What is bloatware to some people might be useful to others, so it would be a good idea to let users select which optional third party packages they want during install. This is usually one of the pages in a "setup wizard" for windows programs, and it would be nice if Mint had it too. Anyone else having thoughts on this?

[kyphi]

If you want a bare-bones distro then Linux Mint is not for you. Try Arch where you can add whatever you need to build up a system that meets your needs or Puppy Linux?

What makes Linux Mint, in my opinion, so very useful is that it contains everything that a user might want and it all works well. There is nothing superfluous. Some programs may not be used today but may be useful tomorrow.

There are plenty of threads relating to a user removing a program only to find their system consequently malfunctioning because interdependent support libraries have also been removed.

By far the best option is to remove the menu entries so that only those programs that are deemed useful to the user are listed.
What you don't use takes up very little space. Compare a Linux Mint installation to a MS Windows installation - it is like comparing an anorexic with an obese person. Now that (MS Windows) is what I call bloat.

So the question really is "offer all that may be needed" or "let the user make the choice on which programs to install".
Which option should the newcomer to Linux choose?

[MartyMint]

The Mint team puts forth a product aiming at a large target, so an "out-of-the-box" experience with reasonable applications already installed is somewhat important.

We're not taking about distros like Ultimate Edition that hurl everything at you.

[SeriesOfTubes]

I am not asking the mint team to throw anything away to make the system lighter. All I am saying is that the user knows better than anyone else what software they will be using so why not make the installation a little faster and more convenient. Users can still have "all that may be needed" by leaving all the boxes checked next to a list of optional programs. This list could also show their size in megabytes and version number. Arch is too hard to configure, but I don't think a list of familiar software that can be bypassed by clicking "Next" will confuse anyone.

[kyphi]

I don't believe that the user knows better although I would agree that an experienced user may know better.

To help with my very first installation of a Linux system, I acquired a booklet and its accompanying CDs to install Fedora Core 4. The booklet stated that if there was uncertainty about which software to install, the user should install all of it. So I did, all four CDs.
The array of software presented in the menu was such a totally overwhelming experience as well as being confused by the unfamiliar names of the software, that I decided that this Linux is not for me and I removed it after a few days.
Then came the then new Ubuntu release which offered a system that provided sufficient programs to do commonly required tasks and that was the start of my Linux journey.

Another aspect to the story was that I used the Ubuntu Gnome edition because I could not stomach the weirdness of the "K" prefix on every program title. Although that situation has changed considerably, gnome (a la cinnamon) still fits better with me.

So, I do appreciate your point, SeriesOfTubes, that there can be too many programs on offer but as a novice user I was not informed enough to make a decision on what programs would be of benefit to me.

[Shunjoss]

The Mint team puts forth a product aiming at a large target, so an "out-of-the-box" experience with reasonable applications already installed is somewhat important.

We're not taking about distros like Ultimate Edition that hurl everything at you.

It's why i choose linux mint. We install it and use it. This is somewhat the plug-&-play version of OSs. With everything you need at first, without (too much) unnecessary software.
But i agree that with internet and synaptic it is easy now to install the packages you need. Meanwhile there is not much software to uninstall.