http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com guidelines and check if your idea has been posted already! ]]> en-us Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC QAPoll module http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/5793/
It do acronym lookups, math calculation, fact lookup, data generation, unit conversion, etc.

So that when I ask it something, it answers me.
RAM? = Random access memory
91*74-26 = 6708
Capital of Sweden? = Stockholm
22 inch in centimeter = 55.88 centimeter
chemical formula for water? = H2O
#0000ff = shows the color blue
01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 = hello
68 65 6C 6C 6F = hello
Hello in Italian? = ciao
Time in Tokyo? = 19:46
Weather in Paris? = 7°C, sunny.
rot13 hello = uryyb

So right from the Deskbar (or something) on the desktop, I can ask something, and it will answer me.

Attachments:
No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/5793/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/11097/ I have heard about people who got scammed and wasted lots of money, then reformatted their computer and none of the media they had payed for would play, and others who were unable transfer the media to their portable media players, or use the media in their car stereo.

Therefor I recommend to warn users about the dangers of DRM.

I have made a a couple of conceptual mockups. The basic idea is to make the user aware that the media he have is DRM-crippled, and to inform him about the DRM and how it restricts him.

This is just a conceptual mockup. It could be better and more informative. Perhaps less intrusive.
* Browsing files with Nautilus (notice the icon/emblem)
* Checking file properties in Nautilus
* Warning in Rhythmbox (if playback failed)
* File properties in Rhythmbox
* Icon in Totem (non-obtrusive)
* Warning in Totem (if playback failed)
* Error in VLC (if playback failed)

Attachments:
No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/11097/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/12611/
You should be able to pan the image, and when you pan it example to the right, then where the image ends, it starts again so it just loops infinitely in 360°.

Current image viewers are not suited for viewing panoramic images because the left and the right ends of the image does not join.

It should also support "kinetic panning" which would be a nice touch. So when you pan an image with your mouse, it keeps panning the image at the same velocity you used to move your mouse.

Attachments:
No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/12611/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/10670/
When people install Ubuntu, their e-mail client such as Evolution, Thunderbird, KMail and IM clients such Pidgin comes with presets.

So they can login to MSN from Pidgin via address like user@ubuntu.net.
They can also use it to login on Jabber/XMPP.

It also works like an OpenID, so you can use it to login on Brainstorm, Launchpad, and perhaps some bugzillas and perhaps SourceForge.net and Freshmeat.net.

Basically setup an Jabber/XMPP gateway, a e-mail server, and an OpenID provider, so that every Ubuntu/Linux can get a user@ubuntu.net address that he can use to access mail, login to websites and chat on MSN and Jabber/XMPP.

Attachments:
No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/10670/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8968/
miles - kilometer
millimeter - centimeter - meter - kilometer
yard - meter - feet - inch
acre — hectare - sqm
Celsius - Fahrenheit - kelvin
pound - ounce - stone - gram - hectogram - kilogram
second - minute - hour - day - week - month - year
km/h - mp/h - knot - mach

Example:
"74 kilogram in pound": 74 kilogram = 163.142074 pounds

Attachments:
Bug #234144 : [Information on this bug will be retrieved soon]
]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8968/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8333/
License proliferation is a problem in the open source ecosphere that occurs when a piece of software is licensed under a custom vanity license instead of an established standard license such as the GPL or BSD license.

The main problem is that re-use of source code sometimes can become impossible due to license incompatibility. There are other problems too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_proliferation

Ubuntu can do this by not including software which uses vanity licenses.

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No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8333/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8337/ However, in the long run they are bad.

We should strive to progressively eliminate binary blobs. One blob at a time.
The inclusion of binary blobs are sending the wrong signals. It is not something we should encourage.

If the amount of binary blobs grow then I think that is very dangerous.

* Blobs cannot be supported by developers.
* Blobs cannot be fixed by developers.
* Blobs cannot be improved.
* Blobs cannot be audited
* Blobs are specific to an architecture, thus less portable.
* Blobs are quite often massively bloated.

Blobs can contain malicious code and backdoors and you may never know. You cant trust them.

Inclusion of blobs are sacrificing our values.

It is giving up essential freedom to purchase a little temporary convenience.
Pleasant in the short-term but bad in the long term.

http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html#39

Attachments:
No attachments. ]]> Mon, 06-Oct-2008 00:00:00 UTC http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/8337/