On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 4:52 PM, Mark Curtis
<merkinman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Removing "Restart" would cause a lot of people to be upset. Not only
since "Restart" is a pretty basic function, but that it'd be confusing
that after a kernel update it says the computer must be restarted, when
the option would no longer be there. Even if the user were to figure
out to "shut down" then press the power button, it's an extra step.
For many occasions where the computer needs restarting, such as a kernel update, Ubuntu can offer a transitory interface for doing it (such as an alert, or a menu item in the relevant program). The remainder of cases will be rare enough that people will not mind logging out before choosing the Restart command (or, alternatively, using a terminal command).
It seems to be that "in the relevant program" could just as easily be the session menu.