I know you guys are doing some futuristic stuff, but it's 2008, not 2009! "Year: 2009". :-)

Great podcast. Thanks for doing this one. It is great to hear end users talk about why they chose Drupal over other CMS/blogging platforms.

Shrop

Ok, wow, great episode, guys! Such a fun dynamic between everyone and some refreshing perspectives really came out.

The distribution-on-demand might be easier (for someone like lullabot) than some may think: because all good projects need a name, I would start there: DDB ("Drupal DDB Builder").

1. DDB is a hosted Drupal instance with a DDB module that scans all installed modules for DDB hooks.
2. A list of these modules and their descriptions is presented to the user with a checkbox, "install," "install, but don't activate," etc.
3. Next, presented in a wizard fashion while iterating thru each selected module, a DDB hook on each DDB-aware module presents specific fields defined by the module's developer that allow the user the opportunity to seed values*.
4. Once all DDB-aware modules have been iterated, the db is dumped, either the folder tree is tar'd and feathered or a bunch of wget's are queued up (to grab the modules from d.o.. come on, you followed along this far), and the user is presented with a single download.

* For instance, a series of basic pages can be built either with Lorem Ipsum text (if the developer doesn't expose the field as a form field) or by values entered on the form. Heck, even the User module could expose some fields, giving the user the opportunity to create multiple users (one admin, one user, say) to be available at launch.

Voila! Now.. already, I can make an On this date module, and I know there's a forms api tut somewhere tucked away..

It is great to hear some disusion about install profiles...PLEASE do it...please help the dummies like me..lol
In reference to a reply I posted on How Drupal will save the world.. http://www.lullabot.com/articles/how_drupal_will_save_world#comment-4274
From my perspective would be the most useful up front tool that Drupal could have.
All this talk about the backend interface, i see and hear it...but that is the least of the usability issues to me.

There just has to be a Drupal Super Hero that could make us a cook book.
And past that we would just have to figure out the back end, knowing that the pieces we will need are there and are somewhat compatible.
The more informed and skilled folks could still go the route of ala-cart...

I will shut up and go back to may cave now.
great discussion, thanks to everyone that makes Drupal happen