Ubuntu QA:
BlogBrainstormPackage status
Log in
Ubuntu QA
brainstorm.ubuntu.com
Idea sandbox Idea sandbox
Popular ideas Popular ideas
Ideas in development Ideas in development
Implemented ideas Implemented ideas

Popular ideas Here are the most popular ideas ever about brainstorm.ubuntu.com.

The current result of votes, being visible, influences the users actual vote.  
Written by Cube the 17 Oct 10 at 18:23. New
Seeing the result of people who have already voted does influence the way you vote *a lot*, consciously and subconsciously. Furthermore, many users who see that the idea they wanted to vote for is -100, will refrain from voting for it.
262
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Hide current vote result until vote is given to get uninfluenced votes.
Written by Cube the 17 Oct 10 at 18:23.
On almost every other website, where votes or polls are used, the current result is only shown AFTER the user has passed his own uninfluenced vote.
81
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: Show total number of votes, but no details until voted on
Written by Aielyn the 23 Oct 10 at 16:08.
So basically, right now, Solution #1 says 44 votes, in the form of 52 promotions, 6 don't care, and 8 demotions.

Make it so that, until the user votes, all it does is say "66 votes in total", and doesn't actually show the visual breakdown colour bar.

(EDIT: Just to make it clearer, it's not showing the positive minus negative votes value (52-8), it's showing the total number of people who have voted at all (52+6+8))
-73
votes
up equal down
Solution #3: Only vote from the idea page.
Written by James Haigh the 25 Oct 10 at 12:29.
I think a skewed vote is more likely to happen if a voter votes on something they don't really understand. The voter will likely base the decision on existing votes.

It is /very/ easy to vote on anything in 'Popular ideas' for example, even if not understood.

I propose that votes can only be made or changed from the idea page, where comments can be seen.

(The idea page for this idea is:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/26158/
If you can see comments then you are already on it.)

This will discourage voters who aren't that interested in the topic from voting, and will encourage voters to read comments.

Let face it, if a voter can't be bothered to click on the idea page and perhaps read a few comments,
then are they really putting enough thought into the vote?

(This solution is not mutually exclusive.)
-67
votes
up equal down
Solution #4: Implement a two-rounds vote
Written by ganassa the 26 Oct 10 at 12:59.
I propose to make 2 rounds: the first one is exactly the same as the current one, you can vote any solution and see results in realtime. After a determined period of time, the poll will include only the two most voted ideas. In this way you can vote any idea disregarding the popularity at that moment, so you won't be influenced, but you can fallback to a most-popular solution when the final round has become.
-40
votes
up equal down
Solution #5: Let the users choose how the results are displayed to them
Written by Daklok the 26 Oct 10 at 20:03.
Give an option for users to decide whether they want to show or hide the current results of a solution they haven't voted on yet.
-5
votes
up equal down
Solution #6: Show the current results...
Written by antiGatesGuy the 17 Nov 10 at 21:12.
...to help people decide what they should do.

See the 12 comments or propose a solution >>

People still have some difficulty when it comes to open-source.  
Written by azhar the 6 Nov 10 at 13:36. New
Well, to many people, Linux is still equal to complex CLIs.
Many people still don't know much about Linux, let alone Ubuntu. Some are quite reluctant to make the first step(towards embracing open-source, fully, or partially).
Some feel a bit lost since they are new to the Linux environment.
218
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Make small videos that depict Ubuntu's great features.
Written by azhar the 6 Nov 10 at 13:36.
We need to show people how easy, professionally-built, secure, and fun Ubuntu is!

One good inspiration would be Apple's little videos that introduce potential customers to OSX.

It would be great if Ubuntu, as well, could make such videos, and post it online. Moreover, after someone has installed Ubuntu, there should be some 'welcome-window' that can bring those new-comers to the video.

A few examples that come to my mind:
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/photos/
-25
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: Play streamed videos of solution #1 on installation
Written by Oxwivi the 7 Nov 10 at 14:50.
An optional streamed introductory video while the system is installing will save time and interest a new user when the system is installed.

At each slide, there can be an option to go into more details, either videos or more image/text.
-12
votes
up equal down
Solution #4: Do not hide the power of CLI
Written by captnfab the 18 Nov 10 at 12:31.
Here is a little dialog between a novice and two experts.

I propose to be more like Expert2 than like Expert1.
This solution would require solution 1 or 2 in order to be implemented.

Novice: Oh no, I'm afraid of Ubuntu, it's only CLI, I don't understand anything.

Expert1: Yes, CLI is very harsh, but don't worry, you don't have to use it, it's for experts. There is nice GUI for "normal users" on Ubuntu, that make your life easier.

Expert2: Nah, CLI is not that hard, many users end to use it because it appears to be very efficient, powerful and more practical than GUI. However, for beginners, Ubuntu provides a lot of GUI easy-to-use applications that suits all your needs.
-12
votes
up equal down
Solution #5: Script analyzer
Written by Lachu the 21 Nov 10 at 13:27.
Add to Ubuntu bash script analyzer, which should extract as many information as possible from man pages and display it to users.

For example:

cat /tmp/sample_file > /etc/fstab
Information:
Will complete rewrite /etc/fstab from output of cat /tmp/sample_file command.
cat will display /tmp/sample_file and redirect it to standard output.
/etc/fstab is a file including definitions of mount points.

It will make people less frustrated/scared when analyzing script on the network.
19
votes
up equal down
Solution #6: user requested videos
Written by DonnyDonNothin the 22 Nov 10 at 14:18.
similar to solution one but with an added social context. there are many you tube channels dedicated to linux tutorials - but no one is guiding them on what tutorials are actually needed. a page dedicated to requested tutorials would be neat. or maybe a section in the forums dedicated to video tutorial requests so we can get the tutorials we need (someone by the name of nixiepixel has done this on her youtube page). maybe a page of links to the good quality tutorials, you know the ones with good quality audible sound.
-14
votes
up equal down
Solution #7: Windows/Mac overlay at first few logins
Written by geekX the 30 Nov 10 at 03:33.
I would work to at first enable a user to have overlays that show what the ubuntu equivalent(s) is (are) to the windows and mac GUI (i.e. start menu or dock)
3
votes
up equal down
Solution #8: Local Help Files based on forum solutions
Written by G-D the 2 Dec 10 at 23:42.
I have found most of my answers by searching the ubuntu or general linux forums but I don't think most people know how to use them.

I propose that popular solutions posted in the forums that receive lots of google hits should be compiled into a local help file included with the OS installation.

People have already generated most of the help information in the forums and they just need to be extracted, summarized, and included in the Ubuntu OS.

Basically what that entails is reading a forum, finding the post where the solution is explained, edit the post, give it a label, and include it in the Help documentation. Personally, I'd be willing to write up a simple tutorial on the 30 or so problems I've run into using Ubuntu and the solutions I've found online. It could be everything from how to change your screen resolution, to how to map a ntfs sabma share.

See the 27 comments or propose a solution >>

We can't add new solutions to "in development" ideas  
Written by korin43 the 8 Jul 09 at 03:10. New
Some problems have multiple unrelated solutions, but only the entire set can go "in development". The result of this is that once one solution is being worked on, further solutions cannot be proposed, and all get marked as duplicates. An example of this is:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21/

There are multiple problems:
1. Multiple Ubuntus listed
2. Not pretty
3. Long timer

Two solutions to #2 were listed, then the idea was moved to "in development". As a result, any solutions for #1 and #3 were marked as duplicates and ignored.
151
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Mark solutions as "in development" instead of entire ideas
Written by korin43 the 8 Jul 09 at 03:10.
If one solution is being worked on, only that solution should be marked as in progress. If all solutions are complete, the idea should be listed as complete.
73
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: Allow solutions to be added to completed or in progress ideas
Written by korin43 the 8 Jul 09 at 03:12.
In addition to #1, we should be able to continue adding solutions to projects that are in progress or completed.
-1
votes
up equal down
Solution #3: Move only solutions to "Ideas in development"
Written by Lachu the 8 Nov 09 at 21:47.
Mark only solutions as development/currently implemented.

Ideas still can be marked as not an idea.

See the 5 comments or propose a solution >>

Brainstorm ideas are often improperly submitted  
Written by dsterry the 23 Oct 10 at 18:37. New
The first question is "Idea rationale: Why are you proposing this idea?" and many people are proposing the idea because they have a solution in mind. So they enter their preferred solution and often do not try to generalize the problem they are trying to address. Then the solution just reiterates what they said in the first box. When a solution is proposed in the problem statement, it makes other solutions less likely to be proposed and discussed.
135
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Change question to 'What problem should this idea solve?'
Written by dsterry the 23 Oct 10 at 18:37.
Change the first section to say "Idea rationale: What problem should this idea solve?" The other text above the larger input box can change from "Description describe what is the problem, why makes you submit this idea" (which has an error) to "Description describe the problem here, not the solution"

See the 3 comments or propose a solution >>

Comments are per idea, not solution  
Written by amrhassan the 9 Feb 09 at 22:43. New
Ideas used to have one solution, so commenting on solutions was easy. But now with the multi-solution per idea model it's a little more difficult to keep track of who commented on what.
110
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Separate comments per solution
Written by amrhassan the 9 Feb 09 at 22:43.
Add the ability to comment on each solution independently..
-28
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: Quote solution in comments
Written by aadityabhatia the 11 Feb 09 at 07:32.
Add the ability of quoting a particular solution, or a part of it, in a comment. This will make the discussion more focused and specific.

Then provide a way of filtering the comments by the solution quoted, hence making it easier to evaluate the solution.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution >>

Ubuntu - Open Feature Store  
Written by orangape the 4 Feb 10 at 23:26. New
Canonical lately started a survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GFVQP62) where Ubuntuusers are asked wich proprietery Applicatons they could imagine to use in future Versions of Ubuntu.
This has started heavy discussions about how Ubuntu should handle the question of mixing closed and open code.
Due to the reason that this question has a lot of explosing power to the Community this Brainstorm wants you to vote and give your Ideas about how you could imagine that Ubuntu deals with closed source programms in the future.
102
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Boost open source development by creating an open feature store.
Written by orangape the 4 Feb 10 at 23:26.
Ubuntu should not waste to much power in creating Partnerships with the makers of closed source software.
They will create packages by themselve if they see a gap in the market anyway.

Due to the Fact that the idea of Open Source is the winning principle do this instead: Power up the speed of development for linux applications by creating an Open Feature Store.

There should be 3 Parts:
1. App-Brainstorm:
Enhance brainstorm.ubuntu.com to become a platform where users can not only vote for features or apps but also donate or tell how much money they would spend to have the requested feature avaliable as open source. Once there is reached a critical vote-count the idea gets an freeze and transfered to the second part of the Feature Store.

2. Casting:
There the featurerequests gets worked out more detailed. Experts from Canonical could help to specify how the feature should be integrated into the OS and how the api should be like for best interaction with all the other apps provided by the distributor.
Then developers and teams can apply for getting the job by offering their price to the community for implementing the feature. After the community has chosen the developing team the project can start.

3. OpenStore:
When the new feature is ready users can start to buy it inside the OpenStore starting at a minimal price (1 $) with the option to give more. Once the sum of the preoviously provided offer is reached the package gets immidiatly relaesed as OpenSource to the welfare of everybody.
All Feature-aspects are open again and the open source community is in full power to modify the provided code as wished.

--
I think a Feature Store like this could help both the developers and the users.
- Developers can earn money with open source and feed their families. Beside that many new programmers will enter the world of open source.
- Users can be sure that they spend their money to the welfare of everybody. Beside they get best quality free software that will become guaranteed open after some time.

--
An Example:
- Inkscape users would like to have a easy to use animation tool integrated. Maybe 500 People vote for this.
- Now developers know that there is some demand.
They calculate that they will maybe need 2500 man-hours to provide the feature and offer a price (maybe 75.000 $)
They get the charge and create the feature. Their api's got to be open but the code stays closed till maybe 5000 users gave 15 $ in avarage. Then the Package gets relaesed under a GPL License and the Community is in full power of the code again but Inkscape enhanced magnificently to soon become better than any closed software application.

--
It's an os-application booster ;)

See the 3 comments or propose a solution >>

Corrections and new ideas get lost to the Brainstorm participants  
Written by PaddyLandau the 7 Dec 10 at 09:10. New
I have voted on many Brainstorms and commented on several.

At times, I have chanced upon one of these, to discover new or corrected solutions and comments.

As I had not known of these changes, I had not voted on the new proposals, or read the new or corrected comments. I imagine a large number Brainstorms have had changes that I would like to see but do not know about.
48
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Subscribe to a Brainstorm manually and (as an option) automatically when voting
Written by PaddyLandau the 7 Dec 10 at 09:10.
Provide a button (as in a forum) for you to subscribe to a Brainstorm.

Further, create an opt-in setting to automatically subscribe to a Brainstorm when you vote on it.

Send an email to you each time a subscribed Brainstorm receives a new or corrected solution or comment.

Of course, also provide a link to list of all your subscribed Brainstorms, and a button to "unsubscribe" from any Brainstorm.
34
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: #1 as an RSS feed
Written by Darwin Survivor the 7 Dec 10 at 10:49.
I track all ideas I have either voted on or commented on and currently the only way to track them, without manually checking one individually through the Dashboard, is to subscribe to each one via its RSS feed.

There are quite a few problems with this:
1) New solutions are not presented as RSS items (The only change is that the feed description changes, which isn't noticed)
2) Since I spent quite a bit of time on brainstorm, just keeping the last 3 months worth of ideas I have voted/commented on usually means about 100 entries in my feed reader (yes, I counted).
3) There is no notification that an idea/solution has been locked, submitted for implementation, deleted, etc.

Having a single feed you could subscribe to that would bring up anything that happened (aside from individual votes) on all feeds you have subscribed to would be AMAZING.
89
votes
up equal down
Solution #3: Subscribe to personal ideas
Written by Thonixx the 7 Feb 11 at 10:03.
There should be an option to inform about new comments or new solutions to your idea by email or private message if anyone adds a comment or writes a new solution.

See the 4 comments or propose a solution >>

Sort Lates ideas after approval date, not submission date  
Written by mikaelstaldal the 5 Aug 09 at 14:55. New
When it takes long time to get a new idea approved, it will end up a long way down in the list of "Latest Popular ideas" (possibly never on the first page), and it will most likely not be found by anyone.

It happend to my idea #20739 recently.
79
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Sort Latest Popular ideas by approval date
Written by mikaelstaldal the 5 Aug 09 at 14:55.
Sort Latest Popular ideas by approval date instead of by submission date.

See the 6 comments or propose a solution >>

Voting for solutions doesn't relay the importance of the problem itself.  
Written by loonyphoenix the 15 Jan 09 at 21:34. New
I might think the problem is very important, but I don't like any of the proposed solutions. How do I indicate if I think the idea needs serious thought or that I don't think it's a problem at all?
69
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Allow voting for the rationale
Written by loonyphoenix the 15 Jan 09 at 21:34.
Voting for the rationale the same way we currently vote for the solutions is one way to alleviate the problem.
67
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: Users should be able to vote on the priority of an idea
Written by Primož Papič the 15 Jan 09 at 23:51.
This solution came from comments in on of my ideas.
Users and the proposer should be able to mark the idea by priority level: from High to Low.
And this priority level would be then shown in a same way as votes now.
Priority would be used only for rationale and votes for solutions.
-27
votes
up equal down
Solution #3: User should vote "Don't care"
Written by 7K the 16 Jan 09 at 00:53.
When you don't care about a problem and want your vote to express that opinion, you should vote "don't care" for the solutions.
When you care about a problem, you should promote or demote at least one of its solutions.
-21
votes
up equal down
Solution #4: Priority Solution
Written by mjheagle8 the 16 Jan 09 at 17:52.
Each user should be allotted a limited number of priority votes that will allow them to show the community and developers what ideas they really care about.

See the 6 comments or propose a solution >>

Allow users to edit the title/description of a suggestion awaiting approval  
Written by Seph_VII the 22 Jan 09 at 18:55. New
Currently, if you submit a suggestion and then notice that there is an error in the description or the title, you can only ask to have the idea deleted and rewrite it.
66
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Allow the creator to edit suggestions until the first approval vote is cast
Written by Seph_VII the 22 Jan 09 at 18:55.
While a suggestion is awaiting approval in the Idea Sandbox, the creator should be allowed to edit the title and description, at least until the first approval has been given.

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

1 2 3 4 Next >>