[Hardy alpha-2 manifest] Comparing the manifests for Gutsy 7.10 and Hardy 8.04 alpha-2, I see that the restricted-manager package is on the Gutsy manifest but not on the Hardy manifest. That must be why it isn't installed by default on Hardy alphas. If this was a conscious decision based up space limitation on the live CD, and not just an oversight, then I suggest that the System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual_Effects panel include a check for presence of the restricted-manager in the installed system and if missing give advice to user to install it using Synaptic if desktop effects are desired.
[Hardy alpha-2 manifest] Comparing the manifests for Gutsy 7.10 and Hardy 8.04 alpha-2, I see that the restricted-manager package is on the Gutsy manifest but not on the Hardy manifest. That must be why it isn't installed by default on Hardy alphas. If this was a conscious decision based up space limitation on the live CD, and not just an oversight, then I suggest that the System> Preferences> Appearance> Visual_ Effects panel include a check for presence of the restricted-manager in the installed system and if missing give advice to user to install it using Synaptic if desktop effects are desired.