This is not an invitation to bloat out Ubuntu MATE 
Youāve just installed Ubuntu MATE. What is not installed by default that you absolutely require?
Iām interested in getting some feedback on this to see if there are any applications that we really should ship by default.
Iād like to see Caja-Actions installed by default. Back when I used Unity/Gnome the Nautilus equivalent was one of the first things I installed because when I want to automate anything from the Shell, I do using Actions. The functionality is very similar to Automator on Mac OS X and is something the power users switching from Mac will look for.
Typically the first couple applications I install are VLC, Chromium, and Guake. Havenāt heard of Caja-Actions before but will have to check it out as Automator is a great application on OS X.
+1 for Guake.
Caja-Actions let you invoke scripts from the GUI and attach them to specific files or folders much like you can with Automator and OS X services. Itās not drag ānā drop like Automator but given that thereās no limit really to what you can call itās just as powerful.
Caja Actions is a good idea, Iāve packaged it for Arch Linux. Iāll see if I can package it for Debian/Ubuntu.
Essential for one person is just as likely to be irrelevant or anathema for another.
I like the idea of a really minimal core with the emphasis on making it easy to select between and install additional packages or groups of packages rather than have them forced on you.
Ubuntu MATE installs a modest number of apps by default, but of those installed apps (excluding those in the System menu) Iāve only ever used about one in eight, so my Main Menu is quite noisy. My most used apps (vim-gnome, Chrome, GMail, WebStorm) where (rightly) not part of the default install.
This is just a question and not really a suggestion, but I wonder why more distributions donāt do a āadditional software installā script at first launch like CrunchBang does, or just take CrunchBangās and reuse it. No need in reinventing the wheel
Ship with a small core, then ask the user on first boot if theyād like an office suite, Java, Gimp, build-essentials, etcā¦ and install it for them, after patching. I always thought that was a great feature. You could even have a setting of āIām new to these parts Slickā¦ better give me everything.ā
The user can have anything from a lean core-system setup to a full-boat bells and whistles install, and the user gets to decide. Good stuff!
Maybe for newcomer in Gnu/Linux would it be a invitation to have the opportunity to choose an Ubuntu Mate-iso with included media, java and flash codecs? But I suppose this is probably a problem with foss-philosophyā¦
The applications I also installled and which I use frequently are Spotify, Ocular, virtualbox, smplayer, Guayadeque and particularly applications for writing and reading.
To create my design of choice I use numix circle theme and plank dock (this is a great thing, as a Windows User before, I didnāt know the benefits of a dock).
I agree with the āreally minimal coreā philosophy at first installā¦ Anyway, I just found each time myself installing first: VLC [included, if Iām not wrong], K3b (which I really appreciate and canāt miss), as well as Chromium. I just suggest this more for newbies, I donāt complain about the software suite provided by Mate. The suggestion from @electragician could be interesting, howeverā¦
The disk utility that came width ubuntu , the one that let you see the SMART info of the disk. Sory i am on the go and i can not search the correct app name . This would be usefull when using live cd to trouble shoot a pc . or any other gui app that can do the same task.
I donāt know if Iād say they are missing essentials but two of the first things I always put on my machines is ttf-aenigma (a bunch of truetype fonts) and the Greybird theme. Other than that I install easytag and swap out whatever music player there is and use Banshee, but those are because of my OCD preferences about my music files.
So, I have been working on packaging caja-actions for Ubuntu MATE. It will land in Ubuntu MATE 15.04. Back ports are possibleā¦
I think these should be preinstalled by default Mate Plugins
Also we should be able to remove Pidgin withought braking the system .
Not to important per say, but I have a habit of typing htop instead of top. It would be nice if I didnāt have to install it on every distro I have ever usedā¦ keep up the good work.
+1 for htop
winbind to be able to browse windows shares on the network
You can browse networks from Caja already, no winbind required 
Continuing the discussion from Is Ubuntu MATE missing any essential applications?:
Martin,
My fault, as I did not explained it detailed.
I believe it only happens browsing samba shares.
My experience is:
This also happens with "main" Ubuntu, so not UbMate specific. I could only resolve it after instaling winbind. Was it a coincidence, and the "problem" is somewhere else (maybe me 
) ?
It is funny (or not) that in 2008 when I jumped definitely to linux, the "browse network" worked flawless .
Iāve my problems with my LaCie Cloudbox as well. See my post here: How to mont a smb folder?
Furthermore, I cannot play Videos or Music from encrypted folder. With the non-encrypted folder does it work.
I suggest a RSS Feed reader as a preinstalled application preconfigured with Ubuntu Mate and Mate desktop RSS feeds
I wouldn't mind having Liferea installed. But it's not by any means an essential app. I don't think RSS feeds are as popular as they once were.