Many users are now donating to their favorite online services using the bitcoin currency. Only offering PayPal as a way to donate will cause a loss of some potential donors who are willing to donate using Bitcoin.

Well, my suggestion is that, together with the donations, there should be a visible link redirecting to other ways to contribute and get involved with Ubuntu.

I say this because of course we all would like to donate to projects such as Wikipedia, LibreOffice, our favorite distro, GNOME, in the end there is no money for all that.

However, sometimes we do have a bit of spare time which can be applied on contributing to Ubuntu, so yes, I think it makes sense to suggest, right below the donations, other ways for any user, even without tech skills, help to make Ubuntu better.

Operation system (OS) knows about current i/o file operation (like start of file operation (creating, copying, renaming and others), end of file operation). Why not have a separate database (like mlocate.db) for file (directory) structure, records which would reflect fully current file (directory) structure and updates at every file operation? This update could be realized in function called by the signal of OS at i/o operation. As a result we'll have all "beauties" of database using:
1) Very quick file search (by size, name etc., include regexp).
2) Very quick showing directories size.
3) Increasing file system (fs) reliability due to the actual duplication of it's structure.
4) Using various sums (like crc, md5, sha, ...), stored as a separate field of file properties in database.
5) Possibility of quick coping and backuping of all file (directory) structure.
6) No need to periodically directory scan (like it do mlocatedb).
7) And many many others benefits...
Using of this approach DON'T INCREASE processor loading. This "paralleling" of fs structure could be realized for existing fs.
By the author opinion, fs structure "paralleling" in separate database must be a standard for new versions of fs ("DB Linked FS").

Transmission, Utorrent and most torrent clients now have this feature because this is future ;) Torrent files is history now. Most popular torrent sites now support magnet links, for example ThePirateBay ;)

I really like Ubuntu, and I like the freedom of not being dependent on a single software company anymore.
However, I still use the MSN network and the Gmail email service.
I don't like MSN because it's just not reliable, it has often problems, and Linux isn't officially supported by Microsoft, so they can kick off any Linux client they want.
I don't like Gmail because of the lack of good privacy service.
I found jabber, but it doesn't have many providers I trust, I don't like the idea of having to use Google Talk because of the privacy problems.
I found linuxmail.org, but I don't trust them, their support seems dead, and they have very annoying ads.

I think it's a good opportunity for Ubuntu/Canonical to jump in and create an email and im network that people trust. Maybe even paid, but a really reliable and great service that users trust.
Each time people get a mail from an Ubuntu mail user, Ubuntu gets promoted. Each time someone speaks to a guy using Ubuntu IM, Ubuntu gets promoted.

When you visit http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download to download the latest Ubuntu release, you currently get a huge dropdown menu. Then you have to scroll down a huge list filled with continent names, and a lot of strange looking server names -- where is Mirrors.brianm.name located anyway? I don't need so see all that.

We can do better. How about a world map that lets you click on your current location - or relative location?

To paraphrase user-interface guru and recent mozilla hire, Aza Raskin, whenever you ask a user to make a choice they don't care about, you fail as an interface designer. Me and probably 99.9% or the people who visit the Ubuntu download page don't care which specific server we download from. We just want our download. Give us a map, ask us to click on the part of the continent we're on, and leave the rest up to you.


REVISION:

Following our discussion below,

* we can use the user's IP to narrow the possibilities of which servers will best handle the request.

* possibly add an algorithm which takes into account both geographic proximity to user's ISP, as well as real-time server availability.

* returning a short list (of possibly three) servers which might best handle the request.

* naming the servers by city, state/province, country, and not by their (sometimes arcane) server names ...
continued ....

[....]

I've not found a simple guide to Ubuntu desktop security on the Ubuntu website.

I would like to know (and other users may wish to know):

*Does Ubuntu need anti-virus software?
*Does Ubuntu need a firewall?
*How to make Ubuntu pass the "Shields Up" security test on the grc.com website for full stealthing.
*How safe is Ubuntu desktop when using an "always on" internet connection?

and other questions, especially for users who have been familiar with using Windows and installing 3rd party security suites; apparently, Linux does not need anti-virus software for home users?

The Ubuntu website could really do with marketing Ubuntu a lot better than it does now. Such a great product - Ubuntu - is not being praised enough.

The Ubuntu homepage has improved very much in giving the viewer a good overview of Ubuntu's features. However, most people don't have enough time to download, burn and test a liveCD and so maybe will never become Ubuntu users. If you look i.e. at the apple homepage you will find lots of videos which show the differences between Windows+Mac, as well as a short video guide to the included applications. (i.e. http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#pctomac)

Installation and upgrade issues in the release notes should each link to a separate (regularly updated) page that provides the latest "officially recommended" work-around or solution for the issue.

An example of the usefulness of this: Upon 8.10 release, nvidia legacy driver support was broken (and so identified in the release notes). Shortly thereafter, nvidia released a compatible beta driver, which was then packaged into -proposed and then into -updates. But the only place to find information about this was by searching ubuntuforums and launchpad, which produces a confusing variety of different opinions and recommendations that date from different points in the release cycle. Fine for the Ubuntu expert, not so great for the novice user (who would either throw up their hands in resignation, or be tempted to break their system by following poorly understood recommendations).

go to start.ubuntu.com/9.04/ that's the default homepage of Firefox when installing Ubuntu. It doesn't look very professional. I suggest a simple, but better, could be easily made.