Contributor Liquen

I appreciate Intrepid finally having a guest session, but this is only accessible when I log in first, so I think this kind of feature is quite useless for me. cause if my computer is turned on, then that means I'm using it and it's not available for anyone else to use it as of that moment. but when I'm not using it, my computer is usually turned off, and guests still need to have me turn it on and log in before they could use it.

I was wondering if it is possible to allow guests to automatically have access to my computer as a guest by having a guest session option right in the login screen.

Network manager is missing a basic function, that is a "Rescan" button or a "refresh" button. This button is a simple, basic function that all major OS's use and is very useful, espescially when your laptop has just woken up from suspend mode.

This should be a simple and easy feature to add to the next release of Ubuntu, and will add to the usability of the network manager.

Currently, the progressbar in usplash is updated by the initialization scripts.

Although this works ok, the progress effect is very ugly because the bar moves in huge increments and then stops for an undetermined time until it moves again. Besides not being beautiful, this provides no information to the user about the time remaining for the boot or shutdown process.

I suggest that the usplash progressbar be time-based, pretty much like the progressbar in MacOSX.

Since the booting and shutdown times do not change drastically from session to session, we could save the time the computer spent to boot and to shutdown, and use it to guide the progressbar the next time. This would provide a beautiful and smooth animation of the progressbar, and an accurate remaining time, increasing the usability.

This can be already implemented using the current usplash code without modifications whatsoever, and a working solution is already available.

Please check it here:
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=93386

Ubuntu PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~usplash-smooth/+archive

Ubuntu WIKI:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UsplashSmooth

When I copy a newer version of a file, nautilus asks whether to skip or replace this file. But it does not provide any info other than the file name. It would be nice if it would at least provide the file sizes too. More info maybe accessible from a drop down button. Like modified time, owner, permissions etc. But these can be hidden and be accessible from a drop down button (like the button which shows progress of individual files during software installation). This will help the user to compare both the files and make an informed decision there itself. Instead of canceling the operation and then comparing both the files and then redoing the same operation.

Who uses the same application for playing audio and video content?

In the moment i have installed Exaile, Rhythmbox and Quod Libet audio players and Totem, gmplayer and GNOME-mplayer video players, but in System->Preferences i can select only ONE application for both types of content, and i can choose only from "Rhythmbox" and "Totem" - no "Exaile", "Quod Libet", "gmplayer" nor "GNOME-mplayer" in select box.

Even after all the work done to make wireless great on Ibex (which I hear has largely been done in terms of hardware support), Network Manager has yet to been given the feature to "re-detect" wireless networks. For instance, after I put my computer into suspend and bring it back, it no longer detects my home network (or any others). For the network to be re-detected, I have to either restart my computer, or go through the hassle of killing the network manager process and manually restarting it (which *many* target ubuntu users would not know how to do). Because of the quirkiness of wireless connectivity in general, Network Manager needs to have as many features as possible that allow you to revive the connection if it is stagnated. For instance, telling the manager to restart the hardware and redetect. This is a basic need.

.torrent files does not currently have an icon. I think it would be nice if they was one...

Ubuntu 8.10 has a new pop-up balloon, every time the desktop starts, it says a network connection is found.

This is not necessary and annoying!

Pop-ups and pop-up balloons are only useful when there is something wrong and the user REALLY NEEDS to be aware of it before proceeding his/her current activity. Otherwise it's just plain annoying, inconsiderate and very windows-like.

Alright, how to solve it then?

1. Use balloons only when REALLY needed (lost network connection, etc...)
2. Provide at least an easy and intuitive way to disable them forever, like a little option button on the balloon itself.
3. Make them less intrusive. Balloons should softly come in, be opaque and softly go away after 5 seconds if the user didn't click it. Also keep them small.

Did you know Ubuntu is not a word in Firefox's spell check, yet Microsoft is? Can we please have this word included by default?

i think it would be great if we could check the file properties only onmousing them!. it could shows SIZE, NAME, MODIFICATION DATE and PERMISSIONS. because i've seen a lot of people( Including me) that have to right click and go to propeeties to see this. COULD BE USEFUL!!!

Currently when copying data to and from the clipboard, if it is text, instead of copying it there, instead it requires the application remain open. So when paste is done, then it queries the application for the text and then pastes it to where you wanted it. This is inefficient as it requires me to keep the application I am copying it from remain open. Windows and OS X doesn't do it this way, so shouldn't linux. Instead it should be copied to the clipboard right away so that I don't have to keep that application open. And when closing that application, if there is something that is stored in the clipboard that is taking up a bit of memory, it should ask me if I want to keep it or clear it.

Rhythmbox should be removed as the default media player in favor of something better.

Rhythmbox locks up for many people, has a large memory presence, lags when the machine is loaded, is relatively featureless, and is ugly. This idea does not suggest an alternative (another idea will have to do that), but some possible replacements are Songbird, Exaile, or Listen.

As everyone noticed, when Intrepid was released the servers got hammered shitless and downloading was slow.

For future releases, update-manager should use apt-p2p. That way, the available upload bandwidth would be radically increased by everyone pitching in, and everyone will get their downloads faster.

Using apt-p2p while the update is going on should be optional but encouraged. It should also be suggested to continue using apt-p2p. Something like a radio button [don't use apt-p2p, use apt-p2p while I'm upgrading, use apt-p2p to give as much as I get (i.e. share until ratio=1), continue using apt-p2p].

Yes, I'm aware of the many peer-to-peer ideas out there. This is not just the same: it's an idea of how to actually get it deployed and used.

Currently, installing a new theme/skin/ icons/ compiz lugins/ fonts requires searching the web, and drag-and dropping to the appearance bar.

Why not simplify this, and allow searching new theme elements directly from the "Appearance" tab? KDE and Firefox already do so, and it is a very handy feature.

Several tools in the System --> Administration menu require the user to type the administrator password to start (like "Synaptic Package Manager") while others (like "Users and Groups") will launch directly and provide an "Unlock" button instead.

As far as I know, most of these "gksu tools" do not need to be started with administrator privileges to perform all their tasks. For instance, "Synaptic Package Manager" shouldn't need gksu to list the installed packages, right? (Ok, maybe they do, but that is because they are coded that way - they could be reprogrammed to use an "Unlock" button instead.)

(I am using Ubuntu 8.04.)

If a friend is over and my session has been locked (due to screensaver, etc) there should be a "Guest session" button for them to open the Guest session, so they can check their email or whatever without knowing anything about Gnome or Linux or user accounts.

Currently the locked screen has:

Password: [_______________]
[Leave Message] [Switch User] [Cancel] [Unlock]

I'd say change it to:

Password: [_______________]
[Leave Message] [Guest Session] [Switch User] [Cancel] [Unlock]

I shouldn't need to log in just so that someone else can launch a Guest session.

If you use the "Leave Message" button on a locked screen, the person will see a libnotify pop-up containing that text when they log back in. But it's not like an instant message or an e-mail with a username attached; it could be from anyone.

People leaving a message don't realize how it will appear when it's received, though, and won't think to sign it.

There should be a one-line field at the bottom for "From:" to encourage the person to type in a name. If they do, the pop-up will indicate who left the note, as well.

Here are some mock-ups.

Don't show quick unmount button in Nautilus when the user doesn't have the rights to unmount the partition/disc.
Right know I don't know why the button is visible if I can't use it?

Daylight Savings Time time changes happen automatically on Ubuntu - which is a pleasant addition, but it would be even more pleasant to have a popup notification of this for two reasons:
1) We get positive, explicit acknowledgement of DST by the system. This adhere's to the ideal of keeping the computer's operations completely transparent to the user.
2) We get a reminder about DST so that we can change any analog clocks.

"I'm Human" could be a slogan of Ubuntu marketing campaign.