I know where this is coming from because I was following the other discussion on mini.iso.
The thing is that in my view you already have 50 or 100 applications too many. 
I long for the fixed release distro that one days gives me what rolling release distros have been giving all this time: a minimal initial setup.
That would mean, in the case of Ubuntu-MATE, being Debian based, just the GNU/Linux system and the desktop (because otherwise it wouldn't be Ubuntu MATE, right?). Admittedly with its default essential apps, like Caja, Engrampa or Pluma, but without other MATE default but non essentials that come on their own packages.
If I want a GUI browser, it won't come with the setup, neither will mail clients, bluetooth, audio, messaging, etc etc. All has to be individually installed and setup.
Of course nothing of this has anything to do with the goals of the Ubuntu MATE distro, which aim to provide a working self-contained computer environment that is easy to use, etc. But it would be really nice if one day a "Ubuntu MATE Core" iso was made and maintained, from which knowledgeable users could build their systems.