Contributor ka2

Replace initscripts with upstart events. Our boot sequence is currently slow, full of race conditions and poor interactions, especially with competition between the series of tasks run by sysv-rc, udev and sometimes just with the kernel. We developed upstart so that we could have a truly event driven boot sequence that would be fast, reliable and flexible; we should take advantage of it.

There has been a lot of positive talk in the past about replacing Pidgin with a better client that uses Telepathy but now there's one that looks like it's almost ready to do that! Empathy ( http://live.gnome.org/Empathy ) has much more potential than Pidgin since Empathy uses Telepathy ( http://telepathy.freedesktop.org ). Although i don't think Empathy is quite ready for this in Intrepid, it certainly will be for the next release.

(If you'd like to give it a try, don't use the old version in the Hardy repos, look here: http://cass.no-ip.com/~cassidy/blog/index.php/post/2008/04/14/Voice-and-video-c alls-with-Empathy )

The fact that Empathy uses Telepathy to manage all the different protocols it supports is what makes it so great. Why is it that Pidgin supports file transfers on AIM but not Jabber? Why can't i use VoIP to talk to my Google Talk friends in Pidgin?

Empathy will enable more desktop integration, better support for multiple protocols, and a happier user :)

The bottom line is that Empathy has been making much more progress and improving much faster than Pidgin thanks to Telepathy and including it in Ubuntu will only help the process along!

Major Update! Empathy is now part of Gnome-- http://blog.ibeentoubuntu.com/2008/08/gnome-has-empathy-for-you.html

Include Compiz Fusion Manager by default

Enable Nautilus to use tabs.

Nautilus is Ubuntu's default file management software. There is no reason why you should need to open countless Nautilus windows to manage your files. It is time to bring tabs from your web browser to your file browser.

Ubuntu should include a way to add/remove fonts from a repository just like the add/remove program panel. When a user needs a new font, they could open up the window, and the program would download the latest repository fonts. The user could look through the fonts and choose which ones to install by simply checking a box and clicking "apply." A user could search for font keywords to find certain styles of fonts. For example, someone could search for keywords words "serif","sans serif","cursive", and the GUI would display fonts that match the search. This would be a killer tool for designers.

Furthermore, the GUI could be very helpful. When a user browses a font, a sample image of it could be automatically loaded so that the user can quickly find fonts that are appealing to them. A rating system or popularity gauge could be used so that the best fonts can be highlighted.

A tool like this would create inscentive for font designers to make their designs free/public. Credits could be given to designers in the font descriptions.

Allow users to log into Ubuntu Forums and other Ubuntu sites (such as ubuntu brainstorm) using their OpenID.

Whenever users plan to buy new hardware for their ubuntu machines, they first have to search the web to find informations about kernel/driver support or incompatibility issues.

It would be really helpful if a sticker on the outside of the box of a scanner/printer/usb-dvb-tuner/mp3(ogg)-player/digicam/... simply said "works with ubuntu" or "designed for GNU/Linux" to guarantee that the product runs "out of the box" with Ubuntu or other Linux distributions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkomen/155060941/
http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/88743/next/

Edit (2008-03-04): This project seems to be on the road already: http://www.ubuntu.com/partners/hardwareprogramme

...and other WM behaviour must be improved:

Some fullscreen apps grab most of keyboard shortcuts under their control. Especially 3D games, Sauerbraten for example. So it is impossible to use Alt+Tab with them.
It is also not good if app uses alt+tab in own purposes, but WM overrides it. Or there is high probability of accidental key press.
There should be some way to minimize such apps. Override control over alt+tab, or/and make another shortcut, that would be accessible from anywhere.

There are also situations when popups brake normal work of fullscreen app. Especially when using compiz.

So summing all:
- WM must have *switchable* ability to override alt+tab so it will work everywhere.
- it must have *customizable* alternative hotkeys that would work like alt+tab everywhere.
- it must have ability to turn off/on (and may be override too) other desktop hotkeys in fullscreen (may be customized for different hotkeys)
- it must not interfere in work of fullscreen app if user does not want it. When in fullscreen, new windows must be created minimized, and notify bubbles must be just drawn over fullscreen. No forced minimization because of popups!
- minimization, or popups must not break the app.
- if fullscreen app's resolution is similar or greater than desktop's, it must be minimized when pressing alt+tab (or custom replacement). If resolution is smaller, it *can* be shown in own window (switchable).
- it must have ability to lock/unlock mouse focus when in some windowed app that needs to grab mouse. Do it by some hotkey, like ctrl+F10 in Dosbox. (this addition based on idea #4642)

OpenOffice.org is quite sluggish with its default settings. Every time I install Ubuntu, one of the first things I do is change the OpenOffice.org settings.

I usually change the settings as follows:
MEMORY - 30 steps, 128MB, 20 objects, 20MB per object
JAVA - Do not use Java
VIEW - Open GL, optimized output, dithering, refresh during interaction and hardware acceleration all ticked.


Without the View settings changed, running old powerpoint presentations in slideshow mode literally brings a dual core processor to a halt.


I'm not sure that the default settings should be exactly as described above because I'm not sure what ramifications that might have for other computers, but it seems to be that there is a lot of room for improvement in performance.

Make installation of 64-bit on desktop easier. There are many obstructions such a Flash, Opera, Skype etc. And many MANY others...

Many users still use 32-bit Ubuntu just because they scare - complicated setup of 64-bit means less users > Less desktop users means less topics at support phorums > less help > more (unsolved) problems for new 64-bit users.

All new computers are 64-bit (Intel/AMD). Be more oriented to new "standard" desktop computers and take the advantages!

Yes, it's a 64-bit world ;-)

Please show the number of ideas in each category, in parenthesis. For example:

Ideas being worked upon (123)
Implemented ideas (57)
Accessibility (145)
Brainstorm (456)

etc.

It should also show how many ideas there are in total somewhere....

Thanks

Most of the planet uses the Metric System. So why does the system default to imperial units? Make A4 the default paper size for printing, only two countries don't use it. Most people don't know what inches are so cm or mm should be the default.