Right now, millions of experienced Ubuntu users all over the planet are on the brink of sending me an email. These mails will take several forms, as follows:

1. Pointing out how to fix the problems I've experienced (or pointing me to an posting where the solution is detailed);

2. Telling me to switch to a different distro because "UBUNTU SUCKS!!!!";

3. Telling me to file a bug report, and/or code my own improvements -- after all, this is open source, and I should either put-up or STFU.

The trouble is that these suggestions aren't really acceptable. Not any longer, anyway. This is because preinstalling Ubuntu on retail computers turns it into a consumer product. As soon as this happened, Ubuntu stopped being a geeky Linux toy that could reasonably demand a degree of tweaking from its users. It started to have obligations. There are standards and expectations it has to meet. It had to get everything out of the box, or as near as dammit.