Please make it the default option to launch the LiveCD

[interfaSys]

I think it's very dangerous to have an image which auto installs its content on a hard drive after having finished booting. If we're not careful after a reboot, we can lose all the content of the hard drive in the test system.

[franco]

Why not hit [ENTER] [UP] [ENTER] in installer and continue booting?

As far as I've seen virtually everyone expect an installer, so we boot into it. That doesn't mean it's mandatory. Better still, the installer has a feature for the LiveCD: config import can be triggered, then exited to boot the LiveCD in the exact machine configuration without clobbering the installed system. This way you can preview a release without hassle.

If we boot the LiveCD directly, implementing this is much harder.

[interfaSys]

Why not hit [ENTER] [UP] [ENTER] in installer and continue booting?

Because the router may be unattended during the boot process and it could have disastrous consequences.
It's true that most people will use the installer, to install the software, but if you start testing various versions, then you want to be sure it's not going to overwrite anything and there is no LiveCD only edition (it wouldn't make sense to create one).

How about not having a countdown?

[franco]

Unattended installation for a manual boot process that requires hitting enter four times? I'm not sure we are talking about the root problem yet.

Not having a countdown doesn't help at all, then booting the ISO makes more sense.

Whatever course taken, it must satisfy this requirement:

Be able to launch the installer before the system comes up (for installation and config import, which can also be used with the Live CD)

The installer can be launched again later, but since it's always been this way and the config import is entangled in the installer it's not so impractical to redirect through the installer.

Long story short, I don't know what is the best course of action.

Probably reworking the installer, but that's a lot of work just for solving four misplaced key strokes.