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I think that kickoff could manage packages. Well, rahter than a package manager it should be an application manager.
Fisrt, if you search for some word it would search if there's any application whit that name. If you click it will prompt you to put the root password (kdesu), and then it will start to donwload it and installing it, the user can see the installation through a notification with progress bar and stop button.

Here goes two quick mockups.

This is how it could look for installing something
[img]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/146/konversationinstall.png[/img]

This is how it could look for uninstalling
[img]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/851/dolphinsearch1.png[/img]

Package management is handled by the distribution - each of which does something funky by themselves. Kickoff cannot handle installation.

Besides this isn't the first such proposal (brainstorm.php#idea63024_page1).