WordPress MU

I have an idea but I don't know 100% how to implement it, or if it's even possible. There should be a way for Wordpress MU blogs to have MANDATORY widgets and plugins. That way, I can give them only widget-compatible themes to choose from, then require certain widgets like linking back to the parent site and Ads mandatory. Then, the blog owner has the freedom to put it wherever he wants, but can't remove it.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, I have thoughts... make only widget enabled themes available to users. It's in the backend already. If you wanted certain sidebar items available on *all* blogs, hardcode that into each theme. Yes, you can do that and have widgets too.
For mandatory plugins (Ie, plugins that everyone uses and are turned on for all) dorp 'em in the mu-plugins folder and make sure every theme has the necessary code (if needed).

Example: on my MU site, I have one optional plugin called wp-counter. Every time I whip up a new theme, I add the if_plugin_exists call to the wp-counter plugin on the sidebar.

I suppose eventually there may be a way to sort of have "fixed" sidebar items that you could magically drop in mu-plugins and have show up for everyone's sidebar. Would take a few poits of coffee (maybe some cookies) and a week or two of red-eye coding though. :D

Just to clarify, if I move a plugin from plugins/ to mu-plugins/ then they are automatically activated for each new blog? Can they be deactivated? I'm hoping not, because I'd love to have mandatory anti-spam plugins and whatnot.

Can they be deactivated?

Only way I can think of is if the actual plugin itself had an on/off feature.

If you put, for example, an anti-spam plugin in the mu-plugins directory, then no, users wouldn't be able to turn it off. (assuming like drmike said)

Excellent! That will help, at least... I can make anti-spam and an ads plugin that are mandatory. Thanks for the help!

-Christine