TR, interesting points here. True, fantastico is terrible when it comes to updates, but it has had a significant influence on drupal, wordpress etc becoming popular.

The first Drupal installation I did was through fantastico so I could try Drupal out.

Ryan, I mentioned Ubercart in a forums, a person came and looked at the base install, said they didn't like the look and said they preferred the look of something like magento.

I think the default theme is the main thing holding Ubercart back from faster uptake and community increase.