Contributor jmmL

Firefox has spell-checking. Word processors have spell-checking and auto-correct. Pidgin has spell-checking and an auto-correct plugin. Thunderbird has spell-checking but no auto-correct. Some text editors have spell-checking, others don't.

But each of these programs uses its own engine and its own dictionary, duplicating the same overlapping functionality in many different programs, wasting developer effort, and resulting in incomplete dictionaries/functionalities. Why?? The Linux/Unix philosophy is supposed to have a bunch of small, well-written components that do one thing and do it well, which are then used as components inside other apps.

We should have a single spell-checking and auto-correct (and grammar check/autocorrect?) engine, and it should be available for ANY text input field in ANY program (including single-line forms, search bars, quick find, etc.), with a single centralized dictionary that gets updated on a regular basis, and a single centralized user dictionary for each user. Then I can define new spellings or corrections (or remove ones I don't like) and have that change automatically be used for all apps.

Also, it would be best if users had a trivial way to optionally upload their custom-defined words back to the central servers, so that they can be added to the next release and benefit everyone.

Advanced power management currently cycles the hard drive once every few seconds even during activity on most laptops. This severely shortens the life of hard drives.

Currently it is very difficult to setup and control access to shared folders without editing conf files and reading detailed instructions on all the variables. I propose that sharing (specifically Samba) be given a well worked GUI and some real TLC to bring it up to standard with the experience on Windows or OS X.

For example, by default a share should be accessible as Read Only by anyone on the network without a username or password (guest access). While guest access should be turned on by default, it should also be easy to turn it off, and if desired to give guests read/write access to the folder.

You should also be able to specify local users who will have read/write access, and these local users should sync with smb users invisibly (ie: the user doesn't need to know that there are two password databases being used).

I propose the Properties window for a folder should contain a Sharing tab with all the options available to choose. I also propose a Shared Folders option in the Preferences menu should list the currently shared folders along with their settings, and provide a button to take you into the dialogue where you can set the options.