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.

Too often I have to select images with cryptic file names from a file chooser. Because I can't see the images I typically have to open the folder I am browsing separately so I can find image I am looking for, remember the cryptic name, and return to the file dialogue to select the file I want.

This could be easier if their was an option to view thumbnails, or to at least preview the image.

Provide this warning with possibility to solve the problem.

New users coming from Windows are often disoriented and don't really know the real advantages of Ubuntu or even how to use some of its basic functions (Add/Remove instead of setup.exe). An orientation would help them.

A couple of ideas for how to help them have come up, including an idea about having pop-ups for every new application that's open. The pop-up idea has a few downsides, of course, not the least of which being that pop-ups are annoying to many users, both new and experienced.

One relatively unobtrusive way to introduce new users to the basic functions of Ubuntu is to show a slideshow during the installation process. New users would probably watch the slideshow (they're waiting for the installation to finish--what else are they going to do?), while experienced users might have the option to turn off the slideshow... or they may just get up and leave, knowing that the installation won't take more than fifteen minutes.

Peter Chabada, on March 21, 2006, created a page with 40+ Suggestions for Better Desktop which you can find at http://chabada.sk/better-desktop/ . Some of these ideas got implemented, but many did not. It would be nice to have 95% of these ideas in Ubuntu. With our preference of features in the order he listed his suggestions.

Many games feature the ability to play with other people. However, the first thing the game will check for is to see if it is currently up to date.

When Ubuntu enters version freeze, the games fall out of date, and it can be harder to play them online without finding a 3rd party update or compiling it yourself (Freeciv, Scorched3D, and Battle for Wesnoth to name a few).

This also creates issues when different distributions freeze at different times, so it can be hard to play with other Linux users.

At the moment, if someone wants to backup his documents or prepare a migration from a computer to another there isn't much more than file-roller to create a backup.
Ideally, the user should be able to run a graphic software which would ask what the user wants to backup and where (tape/usb key/remote).
Then the same tool would be able to restore the backup.

It would be useful for both backups and migration from a computer to another.

Update : See duplicates ideas which contain even more great ideas about that idea.

Create and include a 'Speakers and sound' graphical configuration tool that would be able to configure the system soundcards and speaker settings (from simple stereo to surround 5.1, 7.1)

Because sometimes things don't sound like nearly as good an idea when you've thought on it a while. :-)

I'm a big fan of Images like .iso. However it is not very easy to mount these Images.