There already is a lot of software available for Linux/oubuntu. In the two years that Android has been around it has amassed around 20,000 applications. Whilst not all of them are open source, giving developers of either platforms yet another market to target would be a great incentive to build applications for Linux

Some people who come to use Ubuntu may install it thinking that it is a solution to all of their problems. Whilst in many cases this could be true there are of course problems when it is not. Examples which I want to bring attention to are:

* Voiding of warranty: Although the operating system should not have a negative impact on the hardware (unless you overclock) and thus shouldn't void an warranties, some companies may want to argue that they've modified their system so heavily that it is in fact their fault that the hardware is faulty.

* Hardware incompatibility: In my experience with new Ubuntu users the biggest turnoffs for them are complications in 3D graphics and wireless Internet. Whilst the new Checkbox system testing goes some way to testing a system prior to installing it is not presented by default and new users may miss it and install Ubuntu and be disappointed when some things don't work. (it's already been widely discussed that the LiveCD preview is not always representative of a complete installation).

* Any known issues with their hardware: If bugs relating to their hardware are known this should be detected and presented to them. A wealth of information regarding their hardware will undoubtedly be available via the Internet or bug reports on Launchpad.

Whilst these issues may turn away potential users I think it is very important for Ubuntu to be honest with its users and admit that everything might not work and that they install Ubuntu at their own risk. This will avoid a lot of disappointment and bad press.

I'm sure that we're all aware of the criticisms that open source software faces, one of which is documentation and support. One of the best source of information in both of these cases is to ask the community. There are countless amounts of websites offering advice on common and less common issues that users may face. I feel, however, that finding this information in the first instance can be quite hard and time consuming, especially for those without advance knowledge of keyword searches in Google. Also, posting a request or question in the unofficial Ubuntu forum doesn't always yield successful results. Messages can get lost in archives within a few hours and you can't always guarantee that the person with the answer will be browsing the forum.

There is an opportunity in Ubuntu for it to tap into the unofficial community support within the desktop environment that I feel it is missing.

The window for displaying the progress of extracting archives is useful but I feel it is information that could be displayed in a more efficient way. I think, where possible, there should be less windows popping up for repetitive actions.