I've had to reinstall F18 (don't ask), which gave me another look at the new Anaconda. I took a few notes along the way, so here are some thoughts, intended to be constructive:
1. I did a net install. After selecting the install Fedora option, I'm shown a gray screen with blinking cursor, then a black screen with a terminal-sized area of white in the upper left that is covered by rows of dots. Overlaying that is a message that "/etc/cmdline" could not be executed. That's followed by a long series of boot messages cascading down the screen until the Fedora logo appears and Anaconda launches. I've seen this every time I've used the new Anaconda. Should I be seeing something prettier?
2. At the "Installation Summary": Users can click the icons to change the defaults that Anaconda has selected. But, I'm not convinced the display conveys that. I.e., there is no indication a user can click "Software Selection" and change the default desktop or add additional software groups. The use of the yellow triangle with an exclamation point may contribute to that in that it can be interpreted more as an error indicator and less as an invitation to acquire necessary user input.
3. "Installation Destination": Disks are identified by manufacturer name and model number. Identification via the "dev/sda" formal appears on mouseover. It would be more useful to display that info beneath the manufacturer name, rather than requiring the mouseover. There is no indication that you need to click the disk icons for use in partitioning.
4. "Manual Partitioning": I repurposed and reformatted several existing partitions on three drives, keeping the existing mount points, skipping the "Reclaim Space" activity. This is easy: Click on a partition under the "Unknown Linux" heading, enter the mount point in the right panel, check reformat, and apply changes. The new partition appears under "New Fedora 18 Installation" and vanishes from "Unknown Linux". However, when I selected a partition under "Unknown Linux", that did not trigger any obvious visual change on the right panel to indicate that the next step was for me to enter information there. Perhaps a bright and bold border around the mount point field could appear then? And, the help icon needs a label that says "Help". It really isn't obvious now what it's for.
5. No prompt to remove DVD after clicking reboot. Left DVD in. Got initial install display, but waited the full minute to see if it would go into Firstboot. It did not, going into Anaconda instead.
I recall some years ago when I first used a Linux installer. I knew little or nothing about partitioning, but I still wanted to create my own layout, rather than accept whatever the installer created. The installer made the rational assumption that anyone choosing manual partitioning knew what he was doing. So, it presented what was essentially a simple graphical overlay to fdisk (as did the old Anaconda). And, I was flummoxed because I had no real notion of what partitioning is all about. The upside came later, when I was familiar enough with that traditional approach so I could whip through the installer in no time.
This initial rev of the new Anaconda has abandoned the traditional "graphical overlay of fdisk" approach to manual partitioning and introduced an approach that will be unfamiliar to everyone, neophyte or the experienced. Hence, the frustration of many who find themselves trying to shoehorn the traditional approach into the new Anaconda. I'm not in a position to say if the new approach works for neophytes. (I do think people who write installers should assume that users have at least some knowledge of partitioning when they opt for manual partitioning. There's is only so much magic that software can do.)