Distribution method - could there be a better way?

[David Fletcher]

It has occurred to me that there must be a better way to distribute a package 
of software such as Fedora Core, so I thought I'd post my thoughts and see 
what others think of them.

Firstly, when I had finished downloading the ISO files for FC3, I had loads of 
trouble getting them to burn onto media in such a way that they would pass 
the media check. Fortunately I had recycled the CD-RW media I originally used 
for FC1, so it was just a case of erase and try again. But many others went 
onto CD-R, which probably then went straight into the rubbish bin therefore 
helping to deplete the remaining space available in landfill sites.

Secondly, after installing FC3 then running up2date, it seemed that many of 
the packages included in the ISO files were already out of date before the 
distribution was made available for download. This, in effect, wastes all the 
CDs used to burn ISO files, even the ones that did pass the media check, and 
doubles the download time for all the packages that are already out of date.

So how about the Fedora team giving this idea some thought? Don't pack 
everything into ISO files. Create the next Fedora distribution as a single, 
much smaller file, which could be put onto, perhaps, a USB flash memory 
device. This device, when booted, would then load up the installer as disk 1 
of FC3 does, then perform all the information gathering functions for package 
list, language, keyboard and location, partition and format the HDD, and 
finally transfer all the gathered information to the HDD and set up a 
yum.conf file for local mirror sites based on the location provided.

Then reboot the machine, which automatically downloads and installs all the 
latest packages from the mirrors, resulting in an immediately up to date 
installation with a fraction of the download time.

Does this seem like a sensible way to go?

Reactions, please.

Dave Fletcher