Agreed -- this isn't really a "problem" per se; rather, it goes to out-of-the-box usability if a particular distro. Does Mint's "Cinnamon"-spin have a cd-/dvd-burner included upon the initial install? Does Mint's "Mate"-spin have one? Should Mint's "XFCE"-spin have it installed in light of the fact that its "Xfburn"er is an XFCE.org-maintained app, native to its DE?
None of the spins contain cd/dvd burning software by default.
With all due respect, imho, Mint's devs should err on the side of feature-completeness (perhaps not on the live disk, but definitely upon any persistent install). What's the harm in doing so, anyway?
No they shouldn't. Not in this case. Defaults are about what is hopefully useful to the majority of users. With so many machines not even having optical media drives nowadays, it's simply is no use to most users. In addition, everyone has their personal preference on this. If a user actually wants the functionality, they can install the one they like to use quite easily. What's the harm? If you try to supply defaults that are perfect for every single user, you'd soon end up with an iso you wouldn't even be able to fit on a dvd
Any user could make this argument for the app THEY want.
So while we're discussing "missing" features, how about the ubiquitous "MintMenu" that's powering "Cinnamon", and has been added to "Mate'?
Nothing to discuss here. Your information is just plain wrong. No idea why you think Cinnamons menu is the same menu used in Mate. It's not. Not even close. Mint menu in Mate couldn't even possibly work in Cinnamon, and vice versa. They share absolutely nothing.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.