Interesting idea but Windows is not Linux .. but then this could also work .
People know Windows & know people to help them if they have problems .. Windows is fast .. reliable (XP with firewall is absolutly fine).. is supported so why switch .. if it aint broke why try to fix it .. by going into an unknown & complicated (yes its not complicated .. but I wont go through all these things ... this will not be a flaming war) terretory.
So at the moment .. people switch to Linux when they are really sick of Windows... they need to .. are in contact with Linux cause of work & there know it CAN (can not does ... driver probs et cetera) work ... are very curious ... are "server" .. geeks .. have a business interest in it ... have a Linux system which is properly supported (as in propiatry proper support where the end-user does not have to be a geek or computer nut(not trying to offend anyone)) .
But for the Joe - Jimmy - Hans - or whateva average user it doesnt yet make enough sense to switch .
With more & more businesses switching their staff to Linux .. driver-providers might just properly start supporting Linux as well (hopefully the current Linux infrastructure is making this as simple as possible to do) making it easier for X - average to switch.
Hiding system/admin entyys in menus is a desktop environment thing ... I think GNOME has something coming along that line .. but hiding inappropiare or inaccesible items should be done as much as possible oviously as long as it makes sense.
Linux is an open-source product .. programs change all the time ... which is not the case with Windows.
On a Linux desktop the 3rd party or whateva its called software ... such as Real-Player & a Photoshop install etc ... is very limited making it easier for Distros to constantly come up with new versions ... nobody needs to figure out strange hacks to allow some strange program to still run when the OS is updated (okay not completly true .. & my knowledge is quite limited ) ..
& with Redhat Server or SLES the big products are certified for these OSes ... cause they guarantee a certain standard etc. over a certain time.
Fact is open-source doesnt stop changing & developing according to set dates & deadlines ... its a million times easier in that way for Microsoft ... but they on the other hand must manage to get all the designed for XP progs to work ... there will allways be a new version of XYZ - program in the open-source community.
I dont think the answer neccessarily can be components ... actually the KLICK thing could if everybody stands behind that be very very powerful & influencial ... as far as I get it ... each package (just like OSX) is completly in its own world & has very few (hopefully) dependencies & can also then in itself be very optimised ... click & run infrastructure (might add more overhead than neccessary ?) for all the big GUI progs & the distro specific stuff would then be the base system & system utilities ... I quite like the idea ... very similiar then to Windows where there is the base system & everything els eis extra .
3rd parties could then just provide such packages to the end-user .
A lot of the sytem could be like building blocks which could be combined to give different configurations (server .. desktop .. workstation....etc) ... Flexible & predictable hopefully.
Actually I just reread what U wrote .. yeah Im suggesting very much the same I think ... there would have to be someone or something which would control the Slick & Run infrastructure.
Like the kernel development but in this case for the desktop:-) .
Full-Stop I ve written too much .
Thanx for reading if ye made it this far .
"C.C.Chakkaradeep"