Hi, this may seem obvious to any power user, but I think it would be so useful for beginners

example:

a@b: ~$ someApplication
The program 'someApplication' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install someApplication
bash: someApplication: command not found


so any power user knows if they want to install it - to highlight and middle click:

sudo apt-get install someApplication

but beginners may be hesitant or think it looks too complicated to type that out.

Add/Remove is possible the easiest tool to add or remove a software in the system.
However, for example if I installed Wine through command-line (compiling the source code) it would not be listed in Add/Remove and the Wine in Add/Remove is still not checked.
If this checking can be done it would be a lot easier to install or uninstall packages.

When you click on a file. deb will open a window that warns not to install software that is developed by the Ubuntu community, or canonical free software can be installed viruses that cause or endanger the stability of the system, request administrator or root name and password, just ask if the application will be used by those who install, for all or some. Install the application.

I'm an Electronics Engineering student at university, and I find that there are some open source applications for engineers for GNU/Linux. However, installing and using them is a hard process on Ubuntu. Most of the applications are not on the repos, and even some of them are on repos, they may not work as it should be because of some dependencies on other software which are not on the repos (ex: gEDA Schematic Editor). Maybe a small script or task can be added for some purposes like that (as ubuntu has such as installing LAMP-server, ubuntu-live etc.). We can add some list of packages and with one click, we can install all at a time in a special menu maybe. This can also be done for music too.(tuxguitar, audacity, or some professional FOSS music recording apps), writers (a dictionary, some magazine-design software...) and some other purpose. This can also make ubuntu be chosen for its easy-to-configure architecture for some purpose.

In ubuntu and other distro you can easily search and install software.

This much we know.

What if you were to list all the available software in the menu system as if it is already installed.

The user selects a program from the menu and runs it.

Ubuntu then installs the program if it isn't already there and runs it for the user.

Perhaps will need a new approach to the menu layout and merge the use of a search in the menu.

Also maybe a "Install now?" dialog to give the user the chance to change their mind -due to disc space or something.

[soap box]
This is the sort of thing Linux could do which Windows can't and would show the use exactly how much software IS available at the touch of a button.

The user is just doing what they have always done (i.e. just run programs) but it extends this to installing extra stuff too with little extra thought.
[/soap box]

You could even put fake entries in the menu for programs titles which are popular on Windows and install and run the equivalent.

This could be backed up by a community website to create the fake entries based on user requests for Windows software and the menu system could access the site (XML based or something).

I'll stop there. :-)

[....]

We should have a option to install pre-selected packages for specific activity. Selecting one or more activities will load best-of-breed OSS applications giving new ubuntu users a pleasant experience to jump start their work. Some activity examples I can think out of my head now

# Graphics -> Inkscape, Scribus, etc.
# Audio Editing > Audacity, low latency kernel etc.
# Office -> OOo, Templates, more fonts etc.
# Web developement-> NVu? etc (i'm not a developer!)

Activities and related packages can be voted on by community members in a site similar to Ubuntu brainstorm.
Option to install activity-related packages can be presented during install process or at first boot. This will be in addition to the base Ubuntu install.