> I think the always networked is a hard sell to a segment of users who want to feel in control of their computing interactions. And I think the linux faithful has a larger population of people who want to feel in control of what their computer is doing than perhaps the wider population. It's probably one of the unvocalized things that attract people to any traditional linux offering really.
Exactly right, I would say.
I agree with other comments that I don't really see the utility, but even if it was there, the privacy issues are reminicent of exactly the sorts of things that people choose to move away from proprietary operating systems to avoid. Anybody else remember installers which bundled tons of other "fun, helpful software" on Windows? I'm all for Ubuntu having diverse, creative revenue streams, but if they go this direction I think (and hope) it would lose them users, and more importantly, trust.