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Where should the Linux desktop community focus their efforts in 2008 to speed the adoption Linux on the desktop?
#Response DateOther top priority area(s) (please specify)
1.10/17/2007 1:52:00 AMMerketing! Merketing! Merketing! Merketing! Building LUG! Building LUG! Building LUG! Building LUG!
2.10/17/2007 2:14:00 AMoffice software, system management tools
3.10/17/2007 2:32:00 AMeasy installation and management of the desktop for new users
4.10/17/2007 2:40:00 AMDocumentation in many areas needs improvement. GNU/Linux develops rapidly but the documentation does not keep pace. Look at man pages, for instance. There should be more examples. I think something like tldp.org should be part of every distro and web browseable and searchable. We rely on Google now which is hit-or-miss.
5.10/17/2007 3:00:00 AMGames and Marketing
6.10/17/2007 4:16:00 AMHardware autodetection
7.10/17/2007 6:51:00 AMCentral user management and interoperability with M$ Active Directory!
8.10/17/2007 7:08:00 AMUse keyring for all stored passwords. Easier/better integration of login name/password with LDAP, SSH, keyring and certificates stored on secure USB devices. Better webcam support (and integration for MSN applications)
9.10/17/2007 8:13:00 AMautomatic hardware recognition
10.10/17/2007 8:35:00 AMfree software
11.10/17/2007 8:37:00 AMSmoothness of on-screen fonts. Overall appearance.
12.10/17/2007 9:02:00 AMRapid application development and a good IDE - especially one tied in to the work of LF. I would love to see an IDE implementing the Project Portland cross-desktop tools.
13.10/17/2007 9:26:00 AMpower management, hibernating, standby, ...
14.10/17/2007 9:57:00 AMEasy way to use apps that are windows-only or Mac-only within Windows. In practice this means licensing and EASILY installing Virtual Machines to allow users to continue using essential apps while still having full access to windows network resources (servers, printers, scanners, VPN) etc.
15.10/17/2007 10:49:00 AMdrivers!!!
16.10/17/2007 11:01:00 AMBetter Microsoft mouse drivers (for 4-button trackballs). PDF collection management Turbo Pascal development tools
17.10/17/2007 11:19:00 AMSmartphone and other mobile device synchronization
18.10/17/2007 11:38:00 AMbetter work together between GTK and QT applications better fit of GTK apps in KDE and better fit of QT apps in GNOME
19.10/17/2007 11:53:00 AMAccelerated graphics
20.10/17/2007 12:25:00 PMStreamlining and simplifying GUI keeping in mind that &quot;simple&quot; for linux geek is a dark forest for regular user. They don't know and don't want/need to learn what DHCP, DNS, LDAP or udev is.
21.10/17/2007 1:02:00 PMWindows XP is far more responsive that major Linux distros. Fix the problem
22.10/17/2007 1:03:00 PMCommunity support for the adoption of Open Document Format as the defacto standard. I feel this is the major obstacle to adoption of Linux within the business community. As long as businesses have proprietary file formats as their standards they will require proprietary software to get 100% compatibility. Microsoft and others spend a great deal of effort and money to lobby for the adoption of their proprietary standards, so the open source community need to counter that with a similar effort.
23.10/17/2007 1:10:00 PMBetter support for open standards and free formats. Better tools to work with these. More polish of desktop environments.
24.10/17/2007 1:11:00 PMSeamless support for 3rd party authentication methods (biometric, fingerprint scanning, smart cards) and encrypted removable media.
25.10/17/2007 1:11:00 PMAs I mentioned before, I need a Linux replacement for Microsoft SharedView and Microsoft Windows Live Messenger (with sharing folders support). The replacements would need to have clients for both Linux and Windows. Basically, I'd like to see SharedView reverse-engineered on Linux and communications compatible with the Microsoft product (which, I am sure, Microsoft has made illegal). Furthermore, I really need perfect compatibility with Office 2007 documents. If OpenOffice.org could produce Presentations as good as though made by Powerpoint 2007, it would be feasible for me to switch my team.
26.10/17/2007 1:18:00 PMApplications for Education
27.10/17/2007 1:57:00 PMFor laptops, bulletproof suspend/resume, including auto-hibernate as necessary.
28.10/17/2007 2:20:00 PMEnd user documentation /tutorials
29.10/17/2007 2:23:00 PMGroupware tools.
30.10/17/2007 2:30:00 PMTighter integration with Apple OS X.
31.10/17/2007 2:43:00 PMCoexistence with Windows Vista, filesystem sharing
32.10/17/2007 2:50:00 PMDrivers are the most important of all.
33.10/17/2007 3:10:00 PMRemote supervision of deployed servers and clients. Need to be able to verify that latest security upgrade has been automatically installed, ability to monitor services, etc. All possible via Nagios but could be better integrated into Ubuntu and Ubuntu-server.
34.10/17/2007 3:30:00 PMOut-of-the-box Wine or other support for running legacy Windows apps
35.10/17/2007 3:38:00 PMpdf rendering speed!!
36.10/17/2007 3:42:00 PMIntegration with Microsoft backend products is a major stumbling block. Company inertia and dependence on Microsoft products prevents us from considering a mass switch
37.10/17/2007 3:45:00 PM1. Continue the &quot;It-just-works&quot; strategy, easy use/management of services. 2. Improve VoIP clients (SIP, Jingle (no skype, skype is no option)). 3. Easy Bluetooth headset integration for VoIP is one of the things I am missing.
38.10/17/2007 3:51:00 PMEnterprise level user configuration tools
39.10/17/2007 3:52:00 PMGroup calendaring solutions.
40.10/17/2007 3:52:00 PMKey application ports as well as better virtualization tools.
41.10/17/2007 3:57:00 PMFaster/easier/builtin integration with Windows-based setups, in particular Active Directory for authentication/control. I really dislike it but many companies are standardizing on it for backend work and to the extent that Linux doesn't integrate well, that's an impediment to deploying Linux on desktops. There are proprietary tools that provide PAM modules, NIS facilities, Kerberos, etc. to integrate tightly with AD but this should be standard and &quot;plug and play&quot; on Linux desktops for corporate use.
42.10/17/2007 4:00:00 PMNetworking - Connection to Windows Servers
43.10/17/2007 4:05:00 PMJust wanted to add here that: a) &quot;application packaging&quot;, to me, means installing a server/package, answering questions, and having the thing work with the rest of your apps/services/hardware. I want applications to work WITH my distro, using the best of breed package tools (currently debian --- and/or smart; I haven't looked into smart yet). I'm not interested in stuff that installs on its own, potentially wiping stuff out, or requiring users to have admin access. b) &quot;cross-distro standards&quot;, to me, means everyone settling on the best-of-breed by building consensus with proof of superior features -- benchmarks, test cases, etc. ---, and improving that chosen solution together, even through major API overhauls -- not everyone deciding that RPM is the way to go. c) to do both of these things, there should be great backend technology chosen. Why not embrace something like LDAP for desktop, LAN, and WAN configuration? ActiveDirectory is the best idea MS ever had. Linux needs something like that. What I wouldn't give for a distro that just choose best-of-breed tools, and made it all work together, swapping out exim for postfix behind the scenes, as your specified requirements change, rather than as your specified preferred mailserver changes.
44.10/17/2007 4:06:00 PMNFS Performance improvements
45.10/17/2007 4:06:00 PMCommunication and collaboration tools
46.10/17/2007 4:14:00 PMFor user manuals or documentation : use a language that is similar to what users of MS Windows applications have. Many Linux documentations imply readers fully understand Linux concepts / lingo.
47.10/17/2007 4:16:00 PMApplication development
48.10/17/2007 4:16:00 PMScanners
49.10/17/2007 4:20:00 PMMass appeal. 3-D desktop effects need higher exposure given the upcoming OSX.5 release, and the people who believe that Vista's effects are &quot;cool&quot;. I believe top-tier 3-d acceleration which results in higher performing games on Linux, and better game support on Linux will pull in the much needed game enthusiast market. PC gamers are also do-it-your-selfers who would bring in an influx of adoption of themselves and their families. If the perception is that you can not only play games on Linux, but play them better, you can spread the adoption of Linux 10 fold. Look how many people stand in line for a Nintendo Wii or Halo 3. Now that ATI has opened up, and Nvidia is still dedicated to the Linux market... an opportunity is arising here to really make inroads into this as yet untapped market. More deals like Dell/Ubuntu and more choice of hardware from the likes of Dell will help too. Price comparison still needs to be dramatic in favor of these configurations. 40 or 50 less is a good start, but I'm sure some vendors can provide a greater difference. (Dell is so big, that they get way too sweet of a deal from M$FT)
50.10/17/2007 4:23:00 PMTop Priority - Product Branding *Issues with documentation include: Standard place for hardware compatibility, cross-reference for Windows applications
51.10/17/2007 4:27:00 PMmore power tools and apps less copying of MS bloat ware
52.10/17/2007 4:28:00 PMGetting application vendors to port their stuff.
53.10/17/2007 4:29:00 PMpublc awareness of linux is really the critical priority - from this will come funding and further development.
54.10/17/2007 4:33:00 PMCalendering
55.10/17/2007 4:33:00 PMApplications/games availability
56.10/17/2007 4:34:00 PMopen source flash player (gnash doesn't quite do it for me :()
57.10/17/2007 4:39:00 PMDesktop management (like e.g. Ubuntu's landscape, we use Reductive Labs' puppet and our own solutions, cfengine is a possibility, too, although it's rather heavy)
58.10/17/2007 4:40:00 PMsyncing mobile devices
59.10/17/2007 4:51:00 PMsynchronizing with mobile devices, collaboration software
60.10/17/2007 4:51:00 PMBetter Enterprise management and integration tools. Ability to work seemlessly with Active Directory domains. Currently, way too much tweaking of various and sundry config file is necessary to get AD integration working.
61.10/17/2007 4:53:00 PMIf you look at the major brands of laptops today you see that they pretty much all use the same chipsets and motherboards chipsets. For Linux to work for most people, on most computers, most of the time... they will have to make hardware compatibility even better. Printers at our school, like the Canon IR series still don't work on Linux.
62.10/17/2007 4:53:00 PMUser friendliness
63.10/17/2007 4:55:00 PMCollaboration (particularly videoconferencing, shared canvas, OpenOffice and desktop integration), online community integration (facebook, myspace, google, yahoo, Open Clipart) Some things are great but need polishing (e.g. more templates for Scribus, OpenOffice)
64.10/17/2007 5:08:00 PMCMYK support in graphics applications to have a credible alternative to Photoshop / Illustrator.
65.10/17/2007 5:09:00 PMsmart phone sync
66.10/17/2007 5:20:00 PMADVERTISING
67.10/17/2007 5:26:00 PMVideo editing (NLE)
68.10/17/2007 5:27:00 PMTo the extent possible (good luck), need to get software/drivers related to scientific instruments released for GNU/Linux
69.10/17/2007 5:30:00 PMYeah, pretty much everything is top priority :(
70.10/17/2007 5:40:00 PMGames File Management
71.10/17/2007 5:41:00 PMBetter hardware support specially new hardware. For example, we have Compaq 6710B deployment and no linux out of the box support that. Open source or proprietary does not matter here. A Mandrake control center like tool for users. Laptop HW support. To be specific, Power saving and Wireless.
72.10/17/2007 5:42:00 PMBetter 64-bit support (too many applications are either unavailable or less stable under 64 bits) Ability to update apps without waiting for the next release of the OS
73.10/17/2007 5:51:00 PMSmall business financial and database applications. Also, desktop application documentation.
74.10/17/2007 5:52:00 PMLess technical end-user applications for system, utility, and application tutorials, education, and personal knowledge integration with a smoother user interface, both graphical and command line. That means better self-education tools. Re-envisioning and re-developing command line utility functions to better align them with a graphical environment may sound heretical, but it may be the core of a more coherent graphical and command interface that will better attract and retain a newer generation of open source users.
75.10/17/2007 5:53:00 PMImprove WINE (such programs)
76.10/17/2007 5:55:00 PMLocal SME infrastructure for legal liability, education and after sales support; marketing and branding; end-user documentation; cross-desktop usability
77.10/17/2007 6:01:00 PMGames
78.10/17/2007 6:04:00 PMWhat is needed now is a unified, standardized interface (choose Gnome, ditch KDE right away!) and a the establishment of *ONE* Linux distro to rule the world of the future, e.g. Ubuntu or Debian. Dump the others. Again, GOOD LUCK!!!
79.10/17/2007 6:07:00 PMLaptop integration that give same &quot;out of box&quot; experience that Mac and Windows offerings do: Plug it in and configure it WITHOUT having to surf the net to obscure places for critical wireless and suspend functionality.
80.10/17/2007 6:11:00 PMVideo editing.
81.10/17/2007 6:11:00 PMVPN
82.10/17/2007 6:15:00 PMWINE project, especially Windows XP compliance and interoperability with common desktop software.
83.10/17/2007 6:23:00 PMSyncing with Mobile devices
84.10/17/2007 6:23:00 PMUSB Peripheral support.
85.10/17/2007 6:23:00 PMI think you are missing the point with this survey, if linux could run any windows game out of the box, windows would be dying right now. Business is insignificant when it comes to getting a breakthrough. Any operating system can run a spreadsheet or a word processor (even MSDOS) but you have to get an extra piece of software (like Cedega or whatsitsname) to run a game - and thats does not come free with the operating system. Lack of support for Computergames is what stopping Linux from eating Windows alive IMO.
86.10/17/2007 6:23:00 PMVPN, webvpn, sslvpn
87.10/17/2007 6:27:00 PMThe kernel, CUPS, etc. are already great. More work needs to be done on making desktop environments really compelling, especially Gnome and KDE.
88.10/17/2007 6:27:00 PMDirectX
89.10/17/2007 6:29:00 PMWine would be the top priority. Linux today excel competition in many areas like ease of use, stability and maintainability. What it lacks is support for Windows applications. If much more work would be put into Wine Linux could easily replace Windows for every normal and corporate user.
90.10/17/2007 6:29:00 PMSupport for the OpenJDK (open source Java) for developing Linux desktop applications.
91.10/17/2007 6:34:00 PMiPhone and iPod support. SyncML for mobile devices. Domino 2 Evolution exchange. Stay with RPM, but enhance. Don't worry about weird ISV packaging requirements. Unified system admin commands and GUIs. Need Linux Certified Engineers, not RHCE.
92.10/17/2007 6:37:00 PMfaster user interface, gnome is slow redrawing
93.10/17/2007 6:42:00 PMSpeed, especially optimize resource usage for DESKTOP applications, not just server applications as is traditional with Linux.
94.10/17/2007 6:43:00 PMThe day Adobe release their Creative Suit for Linux my company will switch, not a second before. No, you can NOT produce a professional magazine in Gimp or whatever.
95.10/17/2007 6:46:00 PMrun all windows programs
96.10/17/2007 6:48:00 PMbetter notebooks support
97.10/17/2007 6:53:00 PMGames designed for Linux
98.10/17/2007 6:55:00 PMApplication packaging is not a community problem. Community packaging systems are good, ISVs need to learn to use them instead of wasting our time trying to do something else.
99.10/17/2007 7:00:00 PMGUI for Wine
100.10/17/2007 7:04:00 PMFor God's sake, please create API for printers,networking and other areas instead of drivers working on one kernel version and not in the other!!!!! Also, in order for people to open their eyes seriously, MS Office or something that is truly 100% compatible has to be on that platform. Our customers just don't care for other software other than MS packages. Also, since it's the kids educating the elders, better support for game developers so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel for every game. Games=PR=people getting into their heads to try Linux...
101.10/17/2007 7:09:00 PMGraphic. Gimp is good but not close to photoshop. Inkscape is fun, but not a tool. Scribus is begining to work as a tool, but moor of an axe than a knife.
102.10/17/2007 7:10:00 PMrunning Windows applications in linux: WINE TO SUPPORT WINDOWS XP!!!!!
103.10/17/2007 7:13:00 PMwebcams
104.10/17/2007 7:13:00 PMMostly drivers, while it's a big issue
105.10/17/2007 7:16:00 PM1. Equivalents for major commercial (Windows) applications. The areas I see lacking (in the USA): tax software, AutoCad compatible software. 2. Drivers for new hardware. 3. Unbloated office suite. OpenOffice need much, much improvement.
106.10/17/2007 7:17:00 PMical clients and server that support meeting requests
107.10/17/2007 7:19:00 PMRaise funds from all major companies like IBM, Sun, Novell and Google that says they love Open Source and Linux to make Wine 100% Windows compatible and easy to use. Put the rest of the funds in putting pressure on the hardware manufacturers so that they start releasing device drivers that can be included in Linux.
108.10/17/2007 7:22:00 PMDrives, drivers, drivers and drivers Need a base linux distro that will work out of the box as soon as a new peice of HW is released.
109.10/17/2007 7:25:00 PMOffice applications and accounting.
110.10/17/2007 7:28:00 PMApplications that all users use like word processors, spreadsheet and email that work with existing servers and systems. Along with browser plugins for media and other services. Also difficult when vendors like Skype and other free tools do not support Linux.
111.10/17/2007 7:32:00 PMEasy to use interface like Mac OS X. That is why I use this proprietasy software, because it's so easy to use. Nice keyboard shortcuts, interface that (almost) any person can understand.
112.10/17/2007 7:34:00 PMDrivers.
113.10/17/2007 7:37:00 PMMost important is a stable API for IHVs to develop drivers against.
114.10/17/2007 7:40:00 PMPoint of Sale
115.10/17/2007 7:40:00 PMAdobe application support
116.10/17/2007 7:42:00 PMSort out the gnome/kde differences in where user files are stored etc. Wireless: my OpenSuse laptop is very poor at associating with
117.10/17/2007 7:42:00 PMGaming, if you can port major games into linux, young people will start migrating to linux :)
118.10/17/2007 7:43:00 PMHelp adopting Interfaces like D-Bus for Daemons. This helps building lightweight SOAs.
119.10/17/2007 7:45:00 PMBluetooth support and offline calendar/email applications ala Lotus Notes/Domino.
120.10/17/2007 7:46:00 PMThe user interface.
121.10/17/2007 7:47:00 PMbetter GUI quality
122.10/17/2007 7:47:00 PMHosted desktops for business with strong peripheral support such as VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.
123.10/17/2007 7:49:00 PMvideo editing, capturing
124.10/17/2007 7:52:00 PMGraphically heavy games. Educational applications to make schools adopt Linux.
125.10/17/2007 7:53:00 PMEnterprise wide management of multiple systems (click once to broadcast change). Microsoft's AD and Group Policy do this VERY well.
126.10/17/2007 7:54:00 PMBetter windows game emulation for the home desktop or porting games to work native on linux (cooperation with valve to get a steam system for linux would be great)
127.10/17/2007 7:55:00 PMEasy to read Manuals for inexperienced users.
128.10/17/2007 7:58:00 PM* Seamless multimedia capabilities (ie codecs) * Modernisation of user interfaces (kde4 is on the right track, openoffice is a little dated, etc) * Greater integration of gtk/kde apps (eg Firefox with kde file dialogues, themeing and mouse pointer, etc)
129.10/17/2007 8:00:00 PMExchange connectivity Office apps Visio and Project replacement
130.10/17/2007 8:04:00 PMONE standard distrubution, ONE set of standard applications, etc.
131.10/17/2007 8:05:00 PMThe desktop to look at replacing should be Mac OSX with its wonderful integration and it's quality apps.
132.10/17/2007 8:05:00 PMmost of this stuff is already working ok
133.10/17/2007 8:09:00 PMBetter support for laptops. Installing Linux on a laptop has become less painful in the past few years, but it's still painful, mainly because of inadequate device drivers. Common problem areas are suspend/hibernate, sound, wireless and built-in webcams.
134.10/17/2007 8:10:00 PMsupport from a critical mass of 3rd party vendors, especially as regards support for popular, currently windows-only apps
135.10/17/2007 8:16:00 PMMake linux compatible with GAMES! You should develop some kind of emulator witch is integrated within linux. So you could run all games and windows programs under linux. I would go over to linux today if this would be possible.
136.10/17/2007 8:17:00 PMSupport for commercial games and applications
137.10/17/2007 8:19:00 PMresolve IP issues, how about a generic microsoft hardware device driver converter or wrapper like the NDISWrapper for wifi support.
138.10/17/2007 8:19:00 PMOffice-type apps. They must be as good as Windows equiv. There is no good project management program Collaboration is lacking too. An MS Sharepoint Server work-alike for OO.o is greatly needed.
139.10/17/2007 8:29:00 PMtv-out - web cams : for skype ...
140.10/17/2007 8:35:00 PMTo connvience a Windows user.... Linux need to clearly show the benefits someone has by switching over to Linux. As long as most applications try to act like MS-products, potential customers ask &quot;Why should I change ?&quot;. E.g., as long as MS Word does the same (in 99.5% for a standard user) as e.g. OpenOffice, why should he change to OO? If the projects can easily show significant improvements over Windows-Competitors people might switch over
141.10/17/2007 8:37:00 PMGames!!
142.10/17/2007 8:39:00 PMdon't bother supporting Flash and Mono
143.10/17/2007 8:40:00 PMMore and easier GUI.
144.10/17/2007 8:45:00 PMI'm not generally unhappy, so I didn't mark any of the above very high priority.
145.10/17/2007 8:48:00 PMBluetooth support and phone/PDA sync support (i.e., opensync)
146.10/17/2007 8:55:00 PMDo something about the dependency hell when installing new program. It's a major obestacle for new Linux users. Encourage game development on and for Linux. When major games are developed for Linux most people don't have a reason not to change to Linux.
147.10/17/2007 8:55:00 PMFont rendering quality ( gamma- corrected, sub-pixel kerning, speed)
148.10/17/2007 9:14:00 PMVideo and webcam
149.10/17/2007 9:16:00 PM- Dongles - *Full* scanner support, including all sheet feeders - 130% document compatibility (not joking about the %!) - Substantially improved OCR, including layout retention and *ALL LANGUAGES* - Synch *everything* with *all* mobile devices - FOSS and *cross-platform* - Cross-platform *standard* groupware - Cut the bloody bloat! Where's the programming stringency gone??? Kill the memory hogs! - Standardize making *all* app's *portable* (see portableapps.com for good examples) - High priority: enable on-the fly switching of UI and other language settings. The world is predominantly multilingual today, and has been for a considerable time already. Adopt multilingualism as a standard. Boxed thinking is for serfs!
150.10/17/2007 9:19:00 PMOutlook, outlook, outlook, synch of smart phones.
151.10/17/2007 9:22:00 PMDesktop linux to use means a Linux Terminal Server (LTSP) used with thin clients configured for network(PXE) boot. Forget about Linux FAT clients! LTSP is THE WAY to go for corporate desktops.
152.10/17/2007 9:25:00 PMEasy to use (no need for terminal windows)
153.10/17/2007 9:28:00 PMMigrating correctly with adequate local fonts and attachments from thousands of MS-Outlook messages and contact data to Kmail or Evolution mail client is very critical for my consultancy job.
154.10/17/2007 9:32:00 PMGames!
155.10/17/2007 9:52:00 PMgames
156.10/17/2007 9:52:00 PMVideo capture and editing.
157.10/17/2007 10:07:00 PMExtending the LSB to cover more aspects of what makes Linux, in order to facilitate ISV support.
158.10/17/2007 10:07:00 PMBluRay and HD-DVD, and MP3 support out of the box on ALL Disros in all countries.
159.10/17/2007 10:16:00 PMColour management
160.10/17/2007 10:23:00 PMEase of use is top priority. Device drivers are an absolute must - not having bluetooth or wireless working flawlessly after install is simply not acceptable. When switching from windows to linux on a Lenovo ThinkPad for example, the lovely location aware network support is no longer available (just one thing that goes), which distinctly lowers the joy and ease of use for the thinkpad user. For me, the improved development environment still makes the choice easy, but I'm not the average joe computer user. My mom would faint if she had to face a linux box and try to get wireless working. Game support is another goodie.
161.10/17/2007 10:24:00 PMtop priority: more consistent user interface controls (buttons, combo boxes, scrollbars) important: improved responsiviness, especially on gnome, or rather GTK.
162.10/17/2007 10:26:00 PMEasier setup and management of installed operating system (UI not neccessary, but ncurses good, and lots of documentation/examples), eg. ldap, nfs, coworking with Windows active directory, and more simple setup in heterogenous environments/networks.
163.10/17/2007 10:30:00 PMEase of using, GUI or wizzards to eliminate the terminal.
164.10/17/2007 10:33:00 PMCAD, ECM
165.10/17/2007 10:36:00 PMCentral management of desktop workstations is a must for us. Now we have like 1000+ boxes running with Windows and SMS.
166.10/17/2007 10:35:00 PMLobby Game manufacturers to develope games cross platform. Get high quality Games to linux and a large part of users will move to linux instead of Vista.
167.10/17/2007 10:38:00 PMHARDWARE COMP.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
168.10/17/2007 10:53:00 PMThe single most important activity should be to focus on a common standard for all distributions. Sure, right now Ubuntu is the &quot;OS de jour&quot;, but not long ago it was Gentoo, before that Debian, Suse and RedHat. If we are going to invest time and effort to adopt a Linux based desktop solution, it is absolutely vital that acquired knowledge can be applied to another distro (when common preferences change), but above all, to focus on promoting a single alternative.
169.10/17/2007 11:12:00 PM_Easy_ Multi display capabilities are urgently required.
170.10/17/2007 11:40:00 PMTranslation Tools and Audio Video Production.
171.10/17/2007 11:42:00 PMSecurity and Stability
172.10/17/2007 11:51:00 PMVideo card drivers and dual monitor support.
173.10/18/2007 12:00:00 AMMedical image transfer and processing, LAMP applications, desktop publishing, easy embedding of movies into OpenOffice presentations, open source video chat tool which can communicate with some windows program
174.10/18/2007 12:37:00 AMsome full replacement apps for MS Exchange
175.10/18/2007 12:50:00 AMgroupware integration, and calling MS out on patents, ie, class action lawsuit, possible private RICO lawsuit for restraint of trade due to vague patent threats.
176.10/18/2007 12:57:00 AMKilling off all proprietary drivers.
177.10/18/2007 1:47:00 AMNative Linux games both commercial and open source, awareness among government and such. Widespread adoption of cross-platform 3D graphic tools (OpenGL instead of DirectX). Game developers should focus more on OpenGL games, which are more easily made available on Linux platform.
178.10/18/2007 2:09:00 AMcompatibility with MS Windows application (MS Office, Outlook and IE)
179.10/18/2007 2:14:00 AMuser documentation! what's with the developer-doc but no user-doc category? that's the whole problem!
180.10/18/2007 2:26:00 AMMigration Tools
181.10/18/2007 2:42:00 AMGet venders like Adobe, Apple, and any other software provider to offer Linux versions of their software.
182.10/18/2007 2:50:00 AMMake an option to have GNOME panels overlapped by windows.
183.10/18/2007 3:00:00 AMlinux application responsiveness
184.10/18/2007 3:03:00 AMWhy do software vendors that go so far as to provide RPMs NOT provide a yum repo? It takes a single, halfway qualified engineer about an hour to slap together a shell script run via cron... (Yes, I'm looking at you, Oracle!)
185.10/18/2007 3:14:00 AM(1) make it easy to write OpenOffice UNO plugins in C++ (2) provide tons of sample code for UNO C++ plugin which uses glib event loop, multiple socket connections and runs in the OOCalc process to provide real-time stock ticker updates, real-time charting etc.
186.10/18/2007 3:18:00 AMFile sharing... The SMB client needs to be improved, and KDE/Gnome are not helping with their own private clients that don't provide a true mount point. NFS3 is insecure, and NFS4 is difficult to set up securely, and a Windows client is expensive.
187.10/18/2007 3:28:00 AMStandardizing a 3D graphics and sound library that developers can expect to find on any up-to-date Linux system. More WiFi card support.
188.10/18/2007 3:53:00 AMEasier configuration of daemons. Easier application management.
189.10/18/2007 3:56:00 AMFull compatibility between a Linux Office suite and MS Office (2003) is critical for our organization to move forward.
190.10/18/2007 4:29:00 AMI would prefer free drivers over &quot;open source&quot; ones.
191.10/18/2007 5:06:00 AMGood marketing and advertising!!! We still waiting it in Russia.
192.10/18/2007 5:34:00 AMGames! The only thing holding me and many with me away from using Linux desktop athome is that 99% of the games are developed for DirectX/Windows. If I knew I could play newer games w/o problems and easy of installation id switch to linux athome in a heartbeat.
193.10/18/2007 5:38:00 AMI think that a main objective should be a developing of missing applications for an enterprise. Most people don&#180;t want to use 2 operating systems - their only focus is to do their job on computer but if any organization adopt Linux, they will have to use Linux in work and than they will begin to use Linux on their personal computers. Linux vendors and community should aim on an enterprise application. Selling desktops and laptops with pre-installed Linux in eShops - for end users - it will affect only students and hobbiest market.
194.10/18/2007 5:46:00 AMMake sure it is possible to run Windows applications. I dont care about what OS we run, we run whatever OS that can handle the programs that we need in our bussiness.
195.10/18/2007 6:21:00 AMLinux applications which claim to be replacement of Windows applications, need to do a little better (e.g. OOO 2.1 is not half as good as MS Office). Behavior of Firefox is a little different in Linux and Windows, why so?
196.10/18/2007 6:22:00 AMembedded linux developement
197.10/18/2007 6:25:00 AMDocumentation! Documentation! Documentation!
198.10/18/2007 6:47:00 AMMake kernel have a new playground, ie open the 2.7-tree and keep 2.6 stable with only SECURITY updates.
199.10/18/2007 7:09:00 AMLinux desktop standards (cross-distro) (Again, becouse its the most important!)
200.10/18/2007 7:09:00 AM-better support for proprietary products: easier installation, good alternatives (wine or app-based virtualisation) or more native Apps.
201.10/18/2007 7:15:00 AMother important functional areas
202.10/18/2007 7:16:00 AMCompatibility with MS Office
203.10/18/2007 7:19:00 AMdealing with proprietary codecs
204.10/18/2007 7:19:00 AMSecurity. Linux is certainly in line with what is considered reasonable security out of the box. However, it's not that difficult for a user to inadvertently open up a vector, be it a port, or file permissions, etc. Need some sort of SecAgent that runs an analysis and reports back recommendation actions. Think of chkrootkit and rkhunter with a pretty gui and brains to analyze the results.
205.10/18/2007 7:28:00 AM#1 priority: Ease of installation of common proprietary software (example: MP3 and Flash). That is the main reason I use Mint. #2 priority: WINE important to my deployment: Speech recognition
206.10/18/2007 7:32:00 AMPeople got used to using Windows, error messages of Windows etc... Linux desktop shouldn't be far from this behavior.
207.10/18/2007 7:32:00 AMSynchronization with smart phones (Symbian (Ericsson, Nokia) / Windows Mobile (HTC))
208.10/18/2007 7:32:00 AMFundamental things like nautilus being able to mount a windows formatted floppy and read it when I click on it. Windows users will never understand what mounting a drive means nor should they have to.
209.10/18/2007 7:33:00 AMwireless - as in support for 3G modems.
210.10/18/2007 7:38:00 AMMaking Linux easy to use and more intuitive for end users.
211.10/18/2007 7:41:00 AMA large gaming community needs to be converted. They are not interested in struggling to get a game operational. We need a simple and sure way to facilitate game implementation. Or an enormous drive to replace their existing games with Linux based challenges.
212.10/18/2007 7:42:00 AMCAD 2d and 3d Graphics bitmap and vector DTP
213.10/18/2007 7:48:00 AMUser interface
214.10/18/2007 7:49:00 AMSupport for Windows applications. Used to use only Linux until I started my business. Now I have to use MS Office and proprietary SW that will only run under Windows (D&#233;j&#224; Vu, SDL Trados) to be able to deliver the file formats my customers want.
215.10/18/2007 8:49:00 AMEasier syncing with mobile devices
216.10/18/2007 8:56:00 AMMarketing. Get the message out to the dinosaurs.
217.10/18/2007 8:58:00 AMstability
218.10/18/2007 9:00:00 AMSolve bugs! I don't want to search forums for work arounds. I want solutions through regular updates.
219.10/18/2007 9:17:00 AMGet rid of the patent fud!!!
220.10/18/2007 9:16:00 AMCorel / Adobe's Software should run natively on Linux.
221.10/18/2007 10:02:00 AMMapping software for GPS units
222.10/18/2007 10:14:00 AMAccounting package
223.10/18/2007 10:42:00 AMIM, such like Microsoft Office Communicator
224.10/18/2007 10:55:00 AMReally need pervasive support for *REAL* seucrity, aka Kerberos. It is still not possible to construct a network with LINUX desktops and not be inundated with username/password prompts. Also the ability to edit file ACLs via filesystem tools like nautilus. On Windows [the supposedly less-security-focused platform] all this just works right down to kerberos in the web browser for Intranet access. The hyper-secure dogma of the Open Source community is completely laughable until this issue is resolved; stop building key-ring managers, et al and focus on building on the solid *standard* security protocols and technologies that exist.
225.10/18/2007 11:23:00 AMmake it easy to set up dual-scrren without need to edit xorg.conf.
226.10/18/2007 11:28:00 AMsuper-consistent look&amp;feel across applications and desktops! (despite major achievments there is still a big gap to Windows and a huge gap to Mac OS X!)
227.10/18/2007 11:45:00 AMintegration with Microsoft's &quot;active directory&quot;
228.10/18/2007 12:12:00 PMa complete set of programs for office and mechanical design (CAD)
229.10/18/2007 12:19:00 PMExchange/Outlook killer; Full replacements for MS Project and Visio; AD killer.
230.10/18/2007 12:32:00 PMWine Network filesystems (Samba, NFSv4, etc)
231.10/18/2007 12:35:00 PMSyncing with mobile devices.
232.10/18/2007 12:52:00 PMAccessibility
233.10/18/2007 12:59:00 PMScheduling. Firefox can kill the whole desktop when opening multiple tabs.
234.10/18/2007 1:00:00 PMCross-distribution packaging (e.g. Zero Install).
235.10/18/2007 1:04:00 PMThe main issues aren't technical in my opinion. It's a slow shift in perception and mindshare.
236.10/18/2007 1:11:00 PMProper colour profile management for displays. A photo editing software with 16-bit colour depth.
237.10/18/2007 1:15:00 PMGames
238.10/18/2007 1:19:00 PMPDA and mobile connectivity (non-wireless)
239.10/18/2007 1:34:00 PMI'm not 100% sure what you meant with some of the above, so I'll add Cross-Platform support for major programs (migration would be easier if we could use most of the programs beforehand in Windows), on linux side easy to use virtualization would solve this partially. Good configuration interfaces, Ubuntu has good configuration, but it feels it's dumbed down or something. Some kind of policy controls which are easy to use - SELinux is too complex. Easy to setup Domain controls.
240.10/18/2007 1:34:00 PMGet multiple monitor support to work with compiz and Radeon 9200 drivers. Specific enough?
241.10/18/2007 1:34:00 PMApplications like SAP, Lotus Notes
242.10/18/2007 1:40:00 PMGaming support. If major games could be ported to Linux, the demand for high performance machines running Linux would increase. Application packaging seems to be well in hand. When you can click on adding a package, and it goes out and checks dependencies, and gets everything you need, Microsoft could learn something from that. Fonts are important, that documents for our Windows users look like the fonts in my documents. I am assuming the other user is seeing what I'm seeing when I use Open Office. Documentation is an expected part of an application. It should not be necessary to obtain a second item to get the documentation. There should be an option to install documentation/help if desired, defaulting to yes. If there is a space problem the user can opt out. Wireless needs the other security protocols (WAP?), not just WEP.
243.10/18/2007 1:59:00 PMMerging similar distros to consolidate effort and make selection easier to new users. Too many choices is a barrier to adoption.
244.10/18/2007 2:00:00 PMBy far the top priority would be 100%, FULL, OUT OF THE BOX (meaning, &quot;no ten days of tweaking to get it to work&quot;) compatibility with Microsoft Exchange servers for calendaring (without this desktop Linux has little chance in the enterprise). Secondarily the ability to read and modify certain types of files (particularly Visio and Microsoft Project) that are not currently well supported by OpenOffice. Thirdly FULL, &quot;no tweaking&quot; support for laptop power management -- with many current Linux distros you cannot use a laptop on an airplane because they do not properly support &quot;Suspend&quot; mode, and so on. The other thing that I would note is that for better or worse many enterprises have a default policy of &quot;locked down&quot; end user PCs, which is something that is fairly easy to do with Microsoft's environment (just push a Group Policy from your SMS server to the workstation) but which is extremely difficult to do with most versions of Linux, especially where end users might be using more than one distro.
245.10/18/2007 2:01:00 PMGraphical system configurability instead of command line.
246.10/18/2007 2:03:00 PMInterface design made properly, not just copying from Microsoft and trying to better from there (as Openoffice.org seems to work). Sufficient guidance and people who actually know how to design good interfaces should be an essential part in software design.
247.10/18/2007 2:06:00 PMStandardization efforts such as LSB also below desktop level. Developing software for multiple distributions is really really hard, so the distros must keep focus on this, not to get worse. Also refining the little details of the desktop experience so that everything works smoothly (like in a Mac) should be continued. Ubuntu and SUSE are doing a good work towards this direction already. General smoothness, support for peripherals, attractiveness etc. Last but not least the NEW inventions for desktop. Not just copy Windows and Mac. Some projects like the Compiz and KDE are already doing this.
248.10/18/2007 2:12:00 PMScanner support Less Command line more GUI
249.10/18/2007 2:12:00 PMCreation of equivalent Linux aps for popular Windows aps (eg. Acrobat Professional, tax software, beef up finance software, etc.) OR put some MAJOR support behind Wine giving us a reliable method to run our Windows aps without having to reboot to Windows or run a virtual machine. Wine is very buggy, and I'm not going to bother tweaking a dozen or more different settings trying to get Windows applications to run. I'll just dual boot or run a VM.
250.10/18/2007 2:20:00 PMGaming, there should be more native Linux games, more people would adopt Linux and provide opportunities for other software developers also.
251.10/18/2007 2:27:00 PMCan't stress power management enough; Linux' support is poor in this regard and setting up the most basic desktop power management is a hassle compared to other OSes.
252.10/18/2007 2:32:00 PMPC vendors should start to support Linux more. Not only DELL. The advantage of a PC with a pre-installed Linux is, that really all hardware is supported. Including exotic stuff as bluetooth-usb-adapters, integradet cardreaders or mousepads.
253.10/18/2007 2:31:00 PMSoftware for education, schools, young people, games which are focused on learning physics/math/chemistry/biology/...
254.10/18/2007 2:34:00 PMMobile Device Syncronzation
255.10/18/2007 2:46:00 PMScanner support
256.10/18/2007 2:49:00 PMI've found Linux multimedia capabilities to be quite good, with certain exceptions. For example, while I have no problem watching videos on comedycentral.com or youtube.com, I haven't found a distro yet that will play the videos on foxnews.com.
257.10/18/2007 2:49:00 PMBlu-Ray (I didn't manage to mount a disk; would like to mount easyly, have a movie player [propriet. is fine] and be able to burn blu-ray...)
258.10/18/2007 2:57:00 PMVideo chat / Voice chat that's interoperable with existing networks. Video editing. Note that's not important for us as a companyy, but I feel it's most important for worldwide linux adoption
259.10/18/2007 3:10:00 PMGet Proprietary Software on the Linux Desktop!!!!
260.10/18/2007 3:21:00 PMGet more software vendors to port their business related software to run on linux. I believe Linux is definatly ready for the enterprise desktop, but lots of needed software is not availlable
261.10/18/2007 3:24:00 PMOpen source drivers for proprietary protocols
262.10/18/2007 3:30:00 PMHardware support!!!
263.10/18/2007 4:13:00 PMMajor problem with Linux adoption is poor quality of Open Office for technical users. Calc is slow &amp; buggy - worse than Excel in some ways. Presentation is a joke.
264.10/18/2007 4:14:00 PMCentralized Profile Management
265.10/18/2007 4:18:00 PMEasy install of packages, drivers etc. A NON programmer should be able to run Linux, most distro's need intimate machine knowledge to install flash player and some software (Nero 8 has .deb and .sh installers, the software should be more like a Windows install, no programming exp. required.) Also a Central folder for program installs (C:\Program Files) would help.
266.10/18/2007 4:18:00 PMOverall, Vista is a dog (and don't even get me started on the DRM stuff), but there are a couple of really cool and really convenient items in it. The way Vista (and XP) simplifies networking connectivity is really great. Printer/printing mgmt is also better in Windoze than it is in either OS X, which suffers from the same limitations as linux in this area, or linux. Additionally, while the X-window-system is very powerful, it's also very arcane and difficult to manage. Something either less complex and powerful or more stable and easy-to-manage should be a development priority. Clearly Apple has been able to tame X somewhat; linux should try to do the same.
267.10/18/2007 4:19:00 PM3rd party application support. Adobe, Norton, UPS, MS-SQL, IBM, Avaya desktop software, Checkpoint VPN, MS OFFICE (This is the biggest hurdle)
268.10/18/2007 4:21:00 PMStandard Install Packages for all distros with 1-Click Installation; 1-Click Installation or Plug-and-Play Installation of proprietary drivers if no GPL Drivers are available
269.10/18/2007 4:31:00 PMVideo editing,
270.10/18/2007 4:32:00 PM* I'd like dictation, like Dragon Naturally Speaking. * Drop ALSA, go with OSS 4.0 * DirectX 10 is virtualizable, so support it, and we'll be able to run any Windows app. * It would be better if Wine worked, but I'm not holding my breath... they've had years. Codeweavers just sent an e-mail saying that Outlook will work soon. * GNOME should be a re-branded simplified KDE
271.10/18/2007 4:34:00 PMApplication packaging and DRIVERS. If someone wants to use Linux, it HAS to be able to work with the hardware that's already out there --- there are workarounds in the enterprise for application packaging issues and driver incompatibilities...but for the end user at home (who doesn't have in-house experts to work out the problems), these things MUST be addressed for linux adoption.
272.10/18/2007 4:34:00 PMBetter apps
273.10/18/2007 4:35:00 PMThin client computing
274.10/18/2007 4:36:00 PMWhat about United Linux?
275.10/18/2007 4:38:00 PMGetting more companies to port their software to Linux. Linux is ready, we just need the applications.
276.10/18/2007 4:40:00 PMFunding for FOSS developers.
277.10/18/2007 4:44:00 PMGroup calendaring, syncing with mobile phones and PDA:s, backups and way to sync data with multiple computers (laptops, desktops etc)
278.10/18/2007 4:47:00 PMAvailability of industry standard apps so we can make money while using linux. Like...P-Shop, Illustrator, AutoCad, Dassault and their associated plugins.
279.10/18/2007 4:49:00 PMDesktop Performance, Video Performance
280.10/18/2007 4:50:00 PMEnsure that enterprise software is available on Linux as well as Windows. IBM has done this with Lotus Notes and Eclipse, but the footprint is huge and would require hardware upgrades.
281.10/18/2007 4:51:00 PMIt's all important, sorry. While I can live with small design differences between distros it might be distracting for less experienced users. Language support is in a few cases still a pest (though FOSS often is available in many more languages than the usual CSS) at least I still have problems on my gentoo tty with the German Umlauts.
282.10/18/2007 4:51:00 PMSane APIs across the board. Things like glib and hal should be replaced with something with decent APIs, such as QtCore.
283.10/18/2007 4:52:00 PMEase of performing usual tasks - e.g. changing monitor resolution, which is for now an ABSOLUTE PAIN (edit xorg.conf by hand??? Or run dpkg-reconfigure xorg???)
284.10/18/2007 4:55:00 PMPresentation software (e.g. a Powerpoint competitor, or other multi-head applications like MediaShout (www.mediashout.com)
285.10/18/2007 4:56:00 PMWine needs more work and more simplicity. Wine doors helps a lot but again, still lots to do on those projects. Browser support and plugin support is crucial, all new &quot;hip&quot; websites must be viewable and usable to everyday users.
286.10/18/2007 4:59:00 PMcrypto fs, security
287.10/18/2007 5:12:00 PMenterprise applications like a pim
288.10/18/2007 5:12:00 PMNOTE: low priority doesn't mean I think it not an important area, but that it's doing nearly well enough already.
289.10/18/2007 5:15:00 PMI love Linux. I just don't know how to deploy it further when the enterprise software we use demands MS Office.
290.10/18/2007 5:20:00 PM1. Consistent cut and paste between all apps (console in xterm and native X). 2. Audio playing/recording with OSS used to be simple. ALSA horribly complex - users don't cope well. 3. User documentation - accurate and up-to-date.
291.10/18/2007 5:22:00 PMbetter closed source driver support integration into kernel,
292.10/18/2007 5:29:00 PM1. Standards, Standards, Standards (Cross-Distro) - Software Package Standard (i.e. A certain software package type should be installable in ALL distros) 2. Central/Common Software Repository 3. Cater to &quot;Third-Party&quot; developers - Maybe provide a mechanism for autonomous installation of software from third party vendors (i.e. all the required files to run the software is contained in a single directory for the software). This will lead to easy software installation, archiving, backup, maintenance of several versions, easy uninstallation, removal of library/software version conflict, etc. 4. Easy Driver Update (kernel update made easy)
293.10/18/2007 5:34:00 PMavailability of (ms)-os-free hardware
294.10/18/2007 5:38:00 PMWireless connectivity, printing, scanning, digital camera use all very important.
295.10/18/2007 5:43:00 PMApplication documentation rather than having to search a for help on the web for someone who may or may not have solved the problem or had a similar experience.
296.10/18/2007 5:49:00 PMGames
297.10/18/2007 6:05:00 PMuser-Interfaces design performence
298.10/18/2007 6:09:00 PMusable CAD and some business (billing/order/...) software would probably meet the needs of millions of small companies
299.10/18/2007 6:11:00 PMData Encryption, Security
300.10/18/2007 6:13:00 PMAvailability of large no. of quality, mature application like evolution, firefox &amp; OO.org . Most of them are ill-documented &amp; don't run as expected.
301.10/18/2007 6:18:00 PMcalendaring/email/contact management integration
302.10/18/2007 6:19:00 PMAn individual may care whether a driver is open source or not but, in general, an organization won't care. All they'll want is a driver that works.
303.10/18/2007 6:19:00 PMUsable and powerful slideshow program, Impress lack's using of special hardware, so slideshows are slow.
304.10/18/2007 6:22:00 PMDevelopment tools for browser based application development for LAMP.
305.10/18/2007 6:23:00 PMVideo Editing
306.10/18/2007 6:24:00 PMCleaner applications. Linux is not suppose to crash... but my son is able to pound on some keys on my keyboard with the screen locked. He does some key combo that will eventually lock the screen saver up and I need to reboot to get back in. Keyboard is not responsive, Linux is still running because music or something is still playing sound. Same for some other X windows apps.
307.10/18/2007 6:31:00 PMMy experience: Hardware is still the biggest problem (especially wlan, but also closed source graphics driver, mobile phone, ..). I blame the manufacturers, linux developers do a great job. Nevertheless, it's still a problem for end users.
308.10/18/2007 6:45:00 PMGroupware
309.10/18/2007 7:01:00 PMbetter PIM (next generation) more integration of Windows programms
310.10/18/2007 7:22:00 PMCopy windows hardware device manager. Keep things collected in a single place. It's now spread out everywhere... Make linux clickier and pointier &#225; la windows. CLI worked like 30yrs ago, but you don't want to do that all the time... Sometime it might not even be feasible. Standardise windows and menu looks. See how it's done in windows.
311.10/18/2007 7:38:00 PMLinux apps need to be innovative rather than trying to mimic other systems. Considering the strengths of other systems and then looking for ways to do better. Developing UI's that utilize the strengths of both the GUI and command line approach. The underlying Linux kernel, OS, core apps are effective. Where appropriate, take advantage these strengths.
312.10/18/2007 7:50:00 PMdatabases, filemaker standard for end user use. This is the big gap. There is nothing as instant, easy to use. Yes I know its technically a dog, but we need an equivalent from a user point of view. kexi does not cut it. nether does base.
313.10/18/2007 8:04:00 PMthe possibility to run cad on linux, like solidworks and autocad.
314.10/18/2007 8:08:00 PMDocumentation, documentation and documentation. Testing, testing and testing. Stpo shipping stuff that breaks. Get rid of the idea of &quot;cool&quot; (except in the thermal sense) - &quot;cool&quot; is style over substance and, even worse, style over reliability.
315.10/18/2007 8:08:00 PMcalender and email sync with mobile phones and smart phones, MSN
316.10/18/2007 8:12:00 PMGraphic manipulating tools
317.10/18/2007 8:23:00 PMGames
318.10/18/2007 8:25:00 PMEasier Network setup configuration. Share? What's a share? I would be using Linux today if I could just understand the dang Networking issues and procedures between Linux and Windows machines on the same LAN. You ask questions in forums and are made to feel like an idiot because you don't know something. Another top priority - Standardize and Educate the Greater Linux Community that Linux is just a great Operating System - not another Religion. That really turns people away.
319.10/18/2007 9:14:00 PMpreventing software patents =&gt; top priority removing negative urban legends about linux: marketing =&gt; top priority
320.10/18/2007 9:34:00 PMrunning windows apps on Linux (wine); interoperability of office apps (OpenOffice.org) with MS Office; hardware support; migration tools: &quot;switch to linux and still have all your docs and run your apps&quot;. Another VERY important issue is not coding, but MARKETING: promote the use of Linux desktop, outlining the major advantages for the average user (e.g. &quot;free as in freedom&quot; is NOT an advantage for the AVERAGE user, but &quot;free as in beer&quot; is. So is a complete desktop environment with versatile set of apps out of the box), even advertise in media; promote the use of cross-platform OSS like Firefox &amp; OpenOffice.org on Windows instead of proprietary analogs -- these are main tools for the majority of users and even if they still afaraid of migration to Linux, if they switch to OSS tools, the future desktop migration will be MUCH easy; promote the linux to ISV and hardware vendors as a potential for new users and business growing. Regarding the integration and marketing, it's better to concentrate on one distribution as a Recommended Linux Desktop (e.g. Ubuntu). The community does not have resources (both human and financial) to scatter.
321.10/18/2007 9:39:00 PMFont screen rendering.
322.10/18/2007 9:51:00 PMLess distributions, more quality
323.10/18/2007 9:58:00 PMAvaliability of a commercial (preferabky open-source so porting can be quicker) soho/smb accounting tax package which can be ported across both multiple platforms and multiple currencies/tax regimes
324.10/18/2007 9:59:00 PMuninstall functionality for all applications, and microsoft replacement product for outlook
325.10/18/2007 10:32:00 PMSync'ing of mobiles!
326.10/18/2007 10:33:00 PMMobility Workflow Management
327.10/18/2007 10:40:00 PMOffice productivity application compatability with MS Office
328.10/18/2007 11:02:00 PMyour mum
329.10/18/2007 11:07:00 PMBetter integration with Microsoft Exchange (unfortunate, but a fact of many business landscapes). Evolution is viable, but hardly ideal. Native replacements for some apps, Visio in particular.
330.10/18/2007 11:14:00 PMThe most important and needed applications for small business use in Australia are mature Financial management and Taxation programs. GnuCash is OK but its handling of printing invoices is ugly, and a serious deterrent to business uptake. MYOB has a great Invoice design section which enables printed invoices to look and feel great. I use GnuCash but I produce my invoices in OpenOffice.org
331.10/18/2007 11:16:00 PMRegarding desktop and usability MS Windows (esp. Vista) isn't the benchmark any more - it's Mac OS X setting the usability standards. Regarding ease of use of application installation, firewall integration, compatibily with mobile devices, certain applications in the windows domain are better, but their underlying desktop is not. For a Windows to Linux Desktop migration the missing productivity applications are the decisive factor. If they are available on Mac OS X, several advancements in desktop usability improvement have to be made to avoid the Windows to Mac migriation, which will take place otherwise.
332.10/18/2007 11:21:00 PMLinux will only success on the desktop if the user knows it from home. Therefore games are an important issue. Linux is desktop ready, but the majority of users want to use the same GUI as at home.
333.10/18/2007 11:23:00 PMI bought my new mazda3 because i found it aesthetically pleasing to look at, regardless of all the technical mumbo jumbo under the bonnet. I bought my new plasma for the same reason. In a nutshell what I'm saying is that for the most part OS's do much the same thing, as they should. For me personally (and others I know), I've never found any Linux desktop aesthetically pleasing to look at - to me they all look old fashioned with big clunky buttons. Call me a superficial but at the end of the day this is ultimately why i stick with windows, even though my needs can be fully met with pretty much any Linux distro. So even into the future you can port every app under the sun to Linux - but if it still looks like a dated dinosaur I'm not going to move. Yes superficial I know but thats they way the world is ;-)
334.10/18/2007 11:34:00 PMLinux in general needs to make it a LOT easier to install non-packaged applications. For our environment and user base the CLI basically should not need to exist.
335.10/18/2007 11:50:00 PMIM audio/video
336.10/18/2007 11:51:00 PMObviously our company believes that Linux is just fine for business use. It *is* important to increase consumer use in order to get more &quot;respect&quot; from the h/w vendors. For this purpose, support for games (which means accelerated graphics in OSS drivers) is probably a priority, but I'm guessing.
337.10/19/2007 12:10:00 AMDrivers for hardware (Canon scanners etc.), Easier installation (Click and run)
338.10/19/2007 12:22:00 AMSupport for all webcams
339.10/19/2007 12:51:00 AMGames
340.10/19/2007 12:57:00 AMporting applications which are defacto standards, Adobe
341.10/19/2007 1:45:00 AMOther top areas are.. Lobby more computer manufacturers/resellers to deploy their machines with Linux pre-installed. That's another good way to increase the awareness of *hrm* GNU/Linux! Thanks for the word, from a friendly Swede.
342.10/19/2007 1:58:00 AMA cross-distro installation and manangement tool should be developed - YaST, YUM, ZEN, all have their faults. And I never want to be told to download the source for anything and compile it on my platform to get it working - that is one thing Microsoft has never done to my users and I have to give them credit for that. The fact that many Linux zealots consider this a strength of Linux proves that they have never had to support a variety of platforms and distros with a 99.97% availability SLA. I need to be able to manage more servers and more desktops with less people, while still managing to keep the business running. My top Linux admins will retire within the next 5 to 7 years - what can Linux do to help me with that problem? Automate consistently! And provide a Remote Desktop facility that works out of the box.
343.10/19/2007 2:50:00 AMa 64-bit web browser that works properly, including Flash and other plugins
344.10/19/2007 3:44:00 AMwireless is close; needs to be unified among distros and it needs to be closer to &quot;JUST WORKING&quot;. users need to able to enter whatever keys they need and have the system attempt to connect during bootup. There are too many cruddy wireless tools make one standard and get it more solidified. a lot of the problems stem from how often the init chain, and networking change within distro version to version and between distro. An IMMENSELY BIG ONE is an easy way to get dual displays working!!!! it needs to be easy to get a laptop to run a second monitor that may be widescreen when the laptops lcd might not be. unrelated: i hate that i always have to install both kde and gnome. I flip flop between them, but mostly because I like some of kde's apps much more than a gnome equivalent. why cant the apps be more seperate from the desktop manager... that whole area has gotten immensly confusing when you add in the whole emerald thing as well.
345.10/19/2007 3:54:00 AMWhy is there a different package repository for every Linux distribution? I do not expect all the distributions to agree on package management and build systems, but let's at least agree on the package format and try to work togethor so that there is one Linux package instead of many different distro specific packages.
346.10/19/2007 4:54:00 AMfull featured IM clients (ie: voice and video support in gaim/kopete and an open source skype client)
347.10/19/2007 4:56:00 AMA more user friendly environment for those moving from Windows to Linux
348.10/19/2007 4:58:00 AMTo all different Linux distribution and desktop environment communities: Please unite and work together!
349.10/19/2007 5:23:00 AMdiscussion with hardware manufacturers about opening hardware specifications
350.10/19/2007 5:30:00 AMVisibility / advertising of Linux as a quality alternative to expensive, proprietary systems.
351.10/19/2007 6:17:00 AMmultimedia codecs!!!
352.10/19/2007 6:36:00 AMaccelerated open office which is painfully slow, acrobat pro replacement, PostScript editing tool.
353.10/19/2007 6:51:00 AMVIA/S3/Centaur graphics chipsets and CPUs.
354.10/19/2007 7:01:00 AMGames!!
355.10/19/2007 7:07:00 AMDrive partitioning, Fail Recovery
356.10/19/2007 7:19:00 AMdesktop speed. The kernel is optimized for servers not for desktops.
357.10/19/2007 7:49:00 AMDesktop responsiveness (lags FAR behind Windows)
358.10/19/2007 7:55:00 AMSome outlook replacement.
359.10/19/2007 8:28:00 AMIn order for Linux to succeed as Desktop platform in enterprises on thing is crucial (it is surprisingly not mentioned in your questions) and that is ERP support, I cannot even image how one company could switch to Linux without being able to run daily business in ERP applications
360.10/19/2007 8:45:00 AMLinux desktop standards (cross-distro)
361.10/19/2007 8:46:00 AMGames!
362.10/19/2007 8:50:00 AMPower Managment. We have only Suspend2 and swusp. Both are crazy you cant make a good suspend to disk and reacivate the system from sleeping. mostly it fails with some graphic driver modules or other problems. we need a good suspend which can be controlled from kde or gnome.
363.10/19/2007 8:51:00 AMEnhance SOHO Groupware. MS Access clone. What I mean is &quot;easy for the masses&quot; to develop their own relational database simply and easily with a GUI front-end-wizard driven tools that will allow them to create a semi-professional database tailored to their personal and/or business needs. Their simply is NOT anything yet of that 'caliber' for the typical every day pc user, or IT pro for that matter in existence yet at this point for desktop gnu/linux. Obviously there are fantastic databases, but I'm really talking about for the non-script understanding user. Open up MS Access and use their wizard to create a simple database of any kind and you WILL clearly see what I mean. Hooking said database in with MYsql or sqlite would be ideal.
364.10/19/2007 8:53:00 AMGroupware and mobile phone integration
365.10/19/2007 9:28:00 AMuseful preconfigs; merging manpower for important linux software (like the compiz - beryl merge)
366.10/19/2007 9:32:00 AM* Usability! * Make it simple to develop &amp; install pro
367.10/19/2007 9:45:00 AMFinger print reader, web cam drivers
368.10/19/2007 9:48:00 AMCommercial 3D Games support
369.10/19/2007 10:08:00 AMMajor applications should be 95% bug free, Usability issues of different feature rich applications to be fixed, Full Video/Audio conferencing support (with popular messenger services) in Kopete, Pidgin like IM clients, Commitment and Funding to wider adoption of Free Software from users/Companies who benefits from using Free Software.
370.10/19/2007 10:27:00 AMvoip / sip
371.10/19/2007 10:50:00 AMLaptops, high end scanners
372.10/19/2007 10:53:00 AMImproved support for virtualisation particularly using fully open-source tools, hypervisors etc.
373.10/19/2007 10:54:00 AMColour management tools (for printing, and moving between displays), interfacing with external displays (esp. for laptops)
374.10/19/2007 11:27:00 AMPerformance, especially for desktop applications
375.10/19/2007 11:32:00 AMMarketing for cross-platform framerowks/tools.
376.10/19/2007 11:44:00 AM1. Cross platform video conferencing capabilities. 2. Laptop specific technologies. 3. Widget-APIs (GTK, QT, etc...) aware of OpenGL accelerated desktop.
377.10/19/2007 12:10:00 PMMost important for me is computer control from my voice no more mouse, keyboard. This will be nice for people with disfunction arm.
378.10/19/2007 12:54:00 PMCAD/CAM Applications
379.10/19/2007 1:51:00 PMFont Management utilities- Install and uninstall on the fly with previewing. If this were built in ot hte desktop, it would be amazing.
380.10/19/2007 1:53:00 PMBetter auto detection of dual screens. When inserting/removing laptop from dock
381.10/19/2007 2:12:00 PMDirectory Services!
382.10/19/2007 2:23:00 PMGood, integrated, email/calendar/PDA sync capability
383.10/19/2007 2:23:00 PMMajor Linux or Linux oriented companies (Red Hat, IBM, Novell, Canonical, Sun) should be more strategically pro-active and lobby for open standards. The Open Document format is a perfect example of a crowbar that can be used to pry the desktop market open.
384.10/19/2007 2:30:00 PM100% compatibility with MS Office files.
385.10/19/2007 2:53:00 PMOpen source drivers for proprietary hardware are not important as long as proprietary drivers are available (sorry my english, i am german)
386.10/19/2007 3:15:00 PMUsers need a rock solid easy to understand UI. Linux has been almost there for years. It's applications sets in many cases are substandard compared to what Windows or Macintosh apps offer. Linux apps need to be rock solid and easy to use understand. Too many great linux apps are buggy, broken, or too difficult to use effectively. And for goodness sakes get rid of the &quot;hacker&quot; app titles. I will not mind paying for great Linux apps.
387.10/19/2007 3:30:00 PMBetter, more consistent sound support. Right now sound is on/off, depending on the phase of the moon.
388.10/19/2007 3:35:00 PMVideo editing and webcam video editing. I need to put together short video clips showing how we have fixed various problems for our customers.
389.10/19/2007 3:39:00 PMGames (AOE II)
390.10/19/2007 3:43:00 PMOne of our fundamental stumbling blocks is that we have to deal with the Deparment of Energy, and people are petrified that they would get a Word document from DOE, make a change, etc. and send it back, and the DOE folks would be unable to read it; or conversely that we would get a Word document and it would be obscured/confused by, say, OpenOffice, and we would miss something important, and get shut down...
391.10/19/2007 3:44:00 PMAdobe apps.
392.10/19/2007 4:33:00 PMImproving the Ease and Reliability of Setting Up Cost-Saving Areas where Linux is ahead of the game such as: - Diskless Workstations - Thin Client Terminals/Servers - Multiseat/Multiterminal Configuration Making use of these cost-saving features is difficult for small organizations without Linux-savvy IT staff as the challenges encountered are typically showstoppers. As a very specific example one of the these challenges when setting up a multiseat solution (to save on all sorts of costs from hardware to maintenance) one encounters a benign issue with keyboards - the evdev driver returns a completely different set of keycodes as compared to a VT. This is extremely difficult to work around without even considering special/multimedia keys.
393.10/19/2007 4:39:00 PMApplication install standards Dependecy standards
394.10/19/2007 4:57:00 PMFree (OSS) Sun compatible Java implementation.
395.10/19/2007 4:58:00 PMBuild decent GUI's for configuration. A user should never have to use the command line of hand edit a config file for anything.
396.10/19/2007 5:30:00 PMVirtualization. Almost all proprietary applications in the financial/investment sector are written for Windows. These are mission critical apps so running on WINE is too risky. Unfortunately, virtualization is currently the only solution.
397.10/19/2007 6:07:00 PMseamless Windows virtualization supporting dual-boot environments needs to be easier to deploy and build.
398.10/19/2007 6:29:00 PMGames
399.10/19/2007 6:39:00 PMreliable and user friendly IM and SIP clients
400.10/19/2007 7:17:00 PMinternet banking, web video that works well in windows but almost not at all on linux, Live Meeting, Visio.
401.10/19/2007 7:52:00 PMICC Color profiling (professional graphics work, video or photographic). MS Exchange Killer (back office, front office, remote office). Games; (WineX, Cedega, Wine prebundled with distros) (Native games).
402.10/19/2007 9:19:00 PMScanning (including all-in-one printer/scanners) Drawing tablet input device drivers
403.10/19/2007 9:19:00 PMdesktop is fine, even better than windows, it's the lack of industry standard applications such as CAD!
404.10/19/2007 9:26:00 PMstandards again !!! there should be no reason why an application can not run on ALL linux distros.
405.10/19/2007 10:03:00 PMDVD read/write Open Protocols!!! Dump ALL proprietary software &quot;patents&quot; and copyrights that block NON-Profit users, or any individual private use! Users refuse to purchase from any such companies! Vote with your wallet!
406.10/19/2007 10:21:00 PMusability
407.10/20/2007 12:08:00 AMGet games... kids will put money into uniques games. Their gaming requirements will spur developers to ask for Linux compatible devices and open development documents! Kids will balk and TALK if a distro is harder to use than absolutely necessary - quality feedback!!
408.10/20/2007 12:25:00 AMWhy don't you do 2 surveys. One for business people, and one for regular guys like me. I don't have a company. I am a printer technician, I work in a store that sells engineering equipment, and I use Ubuntu at home.
409.10/20/2007 1:50:00 AMIncrease compatibility with other OSs, increase usability of OpenSource applications.
410.10/20/2007 2:43:00 AMProvide easy and reliable dual-head support
411.10/20/2007 5:45:00 AMGet my windows smart phone to sync with Linux
412.10/20/2007 6:09:00 AMTop Priority: More cross-distro commonality among the top (if not all) distros. Availability: Make codecs more accessable\available. Software: 1) Provide better Linux replacements for the most popular Windows business software....Access, Adobe, etc. 2)Adopt Linspires\Freespires CNR technology. Ease of Use: Make Linux easier to use, for example: There is no easy way (that I have found) in U/Kubuntu (and others) to have the Hdd's spin down. They are constantly spinning. There should be a setting within the System Settings to change this. It is the small attention to details that make big impacts too. **Thanks for asking for my opinion, This is exactly why I love the Linux community! Keep up the great work! :^)**
413.10/20/2007 9:17:00 AMFor personal/SoHo use the foollwing would be excellent. 1) A decent open source personal finance manager similar to Microsoft Money. Currently KMyMoney is my favorite. 2) Work on the frameworks that allow data synchronisation between my servers -&gt; laptop -&gt; smartphone for contact and calendering using open standards. 3) A decent web developement environment - e.g. Quanta PLus with more features and polish. 4) Improvements in QEMU (particulalrly with KQEMU integration) to improve virtualisation. In summary we are getting there - I can use my dual boot laptop in &quot;Linux mode&quot; most of the time now without having to resort to Windows. In the server arena I think we have most bases covered!
414.10/20/2007 10:42:00 AMgraphical setup wizards
415.10/20/2007 11:27:00 AMSupport for real-time applications.
416.10/20/2007 12:35:00 PMMake games works whit out need to buy any additional software (cedega etc.)
417.10/20/2007 3:31:00 PMGame development - as foolish as this sounds, it's the silver bullet
418.10/20/2007 5:36:00 PMan email client that works with exchange. (Evolution sucks) improvements to openoffice that supports powerpoint fonts, layouts etc.
419.10/20/2007 6:35:00 PMDrivers for devices currently the market such as printers. There are very few drivers available. Windows drivers are provided free.
420.10/20/2007 7:54:00 PMThe Linux desktop is still lacking in terms of an all round full featured platform; MSWindows is not perfect, but closer to the ideal than desktop Linux at this moment. My expectations are that desktop Linux will surpass MS Win XP + MS Office 2003 + .. + .. (etc) sometime next year or in 2009 - for corporate needs. For home needs it's been fine for me since about 5 years.
421.10/20/2007 9:31:00 PMprinting, especially on non-hp printers and drivers for wireless, GPU and ACPI support.
422.10/21/2007 12:53:00 AMWe manufacture very high end audio related products and we are a very high end recording organization... We have used Linux for some years... We want to take it to the top with us as we become the best in the world with our products and services.
423.10/21/2007 2:08:00 AMAgain the main priority should be setting an application standard, windows has *.exe, Linux should strive to choose one and stick to it; Once this is done more developer will be able to share there applications accross distros and it will also be easier on the users. Also hardware drivers are extremely important. I say this is #1.
424.10/21/2007 6:47:00 AMOur company has a series of laptops, most of them connecting to internet with a nokia phone. This is a issue with Linux, some work, most don`t.
425.10/21/2007 7:42:00 AMColour Management, camera-support, SD-Card support, monitor-calibration support, engineering=SolidEdge support, better audio-interface support, more-stable video-editing support ( HeroineVirtual's prog isn't stable, in my experience, though it seems powerful. . . ), better Wacom-support ( not bloody waiting months for each generation to even-work! ), photo-printers ( Epson, I'm glaring at you!! ), the whole deal. It's getting there, but it sure-as-hell isn't &quot;there&quot; yet, from my perspective: too damn much of my time is wasted compensating for the limitations of Linux-world software.
426.10/21/2007 9:38:00 AMWizards for more common tasks.
427.10/21/2007 9:42:00 AMIntegration with MSExchange
428.10/21/2007 11:02:00 AMgroupware
429.10/21/2007 3:25:00 PMbetter integration of the Window Managers (KDE, Gnome) &amp; the X-Server to the OS. if Mac can pull it off, why not on a Linux when a lot of the things in a Mac is clearly derived from a Unix system?
430.10/21/2007 4:13:00 PMGraphical configuration, fail-safe modes (things like a not starting X server is a real mess for unexperienced users)
431.10/21/2007 5:49:00 PMAnything that matches up to Adobe/Industry standards.
432.10/21/2007 7:09:00 PMfull support for smart cards holding user certificates.
433.10/21/2007 7:36:00 PMKeep formats open (no ISO standardisation of OOXML etc.)
434.10/21/2007 8:25:00 PMGames
435.10/21/2007 8:29:00 PMMore &amp; better Art works
436.10/21/2007 9:47:00 PMIntegration into OS X natively
437.10/21/2007 10:04:00 PMUSB in general, especially for WiFi
438.10/22/2007 5:46:00 AMAdobe Flash
439.10/22/2007 6:29:00 AMLower latency in desktop interaction
440.10/22/2007 9:04:00 AMadvancing with WINE and with interoparability with Windows Domain Services and Microsoft Exchange as well as with Microsoft Office formats in OpenOffice for example
441.10/22/2007 10:47:00 AMOffice Integration
442.10/22/2007 12:07:00 PMEducation/Outreach/Marketing
443.10/22/2007 1:49:00 PMgetting adobe to make dreamweaver CS3 to work on Linux
444.10/22/2007 2:02:00 PMManagement application for updating, deploying and configuring desktop computers and users desktops &quot;en masse&quot; over the network.
445.10/22/2007 4:59:00 PMEffective network-wide management tools for user profiles and settings are currently more important to us than anything else.
446.10/22/2007 5:46:00 PMLinux OSS Applications: Development, integration, adoptability, and delivery structure. Linux needs a global rating system for qualifying (certifying) a Linux apps class, ranking from (D)development (P)personal (C)commercial (E)enterprise. These classes can be categorized and multi tiered into sub rankings as appropriate based on established requirements and standards (ie; C1, E3, etc). Projects can be voluntarily submitting to the body for review, resulting in classification or rejection. This could help define and distinguish between projects with serious potential and backing, and those that may not. It would also aid the user and especially the business entity, in making an initial decision on what apps may be suitable for their needs.
447.10/22/2007 7:11:00 PMimproving compatibility with MS Office (de facto standard); development of many more niche market software products
448.10/22/2007 7:39:00 PMManagement integration with proprietary tools
449.10/22/2007 7:57:00 PMNy nymber one choice is Open source drivers for proprietary hardware. Put this damned IP/patent problem to bed. Probably a naive wish.
450.10/22/2007 9:43:00 PMimprove flash experience (better plugins) improve java vm or its effect on the desktop better video plugins to firefox (working fine with win32 codecs) lack of some specific applications like: - UML editor - Diagram editor (I still use visio) - HTML editor (like dreamweaver)
451.10/22/2007 10:16:00 PMDependency management for all distros needs to be unified. Nothing sucks more than resolving dep's. I am not a programmer so I need it to just work.
452.10/23/2007 2:19:00 AMLaptop support, particularly sleep/hibernate and hotswapping of external displays
453.10/23/2007 9:47:00 AMActual scanner / multi function printer need to be handled. Currently mostly old / outdated scanners can be used.
454.10/23/2007 10:07:00 AMconnecting to mobiles
455.10/23/2007 10:33:00 AMPromotion! Linux desktops are already stunning environments, promotion and marketing is the priority. Major TV, newspaper and billboard campaigns worldwide. Run a marketing fund. I'll donate to it.
456.10/23/2007 12:34:00 PMEase of installing new software (not yet in repository) - GUI based ala windows
457.10/23/2007 2:14:00 PMCulling out all the endless applications and providing only the cream of the crop apps. Ease of installation and better file management browser. Its just stupid that a user has to install several layers of libraries, applications to get a DVD to play. Also where is a decent outlook, eudora application.
458.10/23/2007 3:27:00 PMXorg must improve its support for dual/mulitple monitor support
459.10/23/2007 3:35:00 PMOCR Software and scanner support
460.10/23/2007 3:50:00 PMI feel the need for combined developement, it seems as though all the Distro's are going in their own Directions and forgetting the pooling of resorces.
461.10/23/2007 4:27:00 PMPeople here are fed up by Windows, but since they are forced to use applications (adobe family, accounting software etc.) that run only on Windows, they can't use Linux.
462.10/23/2007 4:34:00 PMTop Priority: Ease of use by default - things just work
463.10/23/2007 4:52:00 PMTop priority and top priority: Hight quality applications
464.10/23/2007 5:00:00 PMIT Management Systems/ GPO/ AD/ Application Deployment
465.10/23/2007 6:08:00 PMPolish the 64 support and kill Vista
466.10/23/2007 6:32:00 PMGet KPilot to work. NOW!
467.10/23/2007 6:55:00 PMUser interface consistency and usability. One package management to rule them all :-)
468.10/23/2007 7:02:00 PMmake WINE more user friendly, Ive been using Linux for 2 weeks, and for some odd reason it decides not to load some apps when setting the .exe .EXE .Exe files to load in wine.
469.10/23/2007 7:06:00 PMIt is LIFE IN HELL to get PRINTERS to work. How am I supposed to push Linux when I can't even keep a customer printing??? My Second and EQUALLY IMPORTANT Priority is interfacing with Windows. Getting SMB connections to &quot;stick&quot; can be a real challenge.
470.10/23/2007 7:16:00 PMUsability
471.10/23/2007 7:42:00 PMmedia players that can handle wav and wvm codecs without violating copywrights better 64-bit support from 3-rd party applications better integration and collaboration between repositories for add-on applications standardize on yum|appget or whatever - but make it universal
472.10/23/2007 7:47:00 PMApplication stability
473.10/23/2007 8:01:00 PMavailability of open-source softwares. Port some softwares into Linux. Some people don't migrate because they want their apps.
474.10/23/2007 8:41:00 PMUser frienly sync with smart phones - Symbian nokia and sony ericsson to kde-pim or evolution.
475.10/23/2007 8:43:00 PMMono and Wine - internal Windows apps are the stumbling block to corporate desktop adoption
476.10/23/2007 8:50:00 PMAbility for Linux to authenicate against Active Directory.
477.10/23/2007 8:55:00 PMDocument compatibility with MS office
478.10/23/2007 8:56:00 PMgood office suite
479.10/23/2007 9:17:00 PMability to push applications and policies via a management server
480.10/23/2007 9:34:00 PMSystem configuration/admin (standard). Yast/yast2 from SuSE is a very good solution, but disto dependent. Specialy Linux newbies need a &quot;system control center&quot; to config fast and simple the box,without reading lots of man pages and cribbling on the command line whith thousends of commands and tools and more of thousends of there options. That's the most issue wy Linux is felt as a &quot;guru&quot;-OS.
481.10/23/2007 9:35:00 PMGetting hardware vendor support even if not FOSS Getting more software publisher port their commercial applications to linux Enhance fit and finish of GTK2 and QT3/4 apps to match that of Windows (e.g. non-native widgets in Firefox on Linux while propely themed in XP and Vista) Display of anti-aliased graphics in openoffice.org Clipboard support between applications (almost non-existent except for text which is completely ludidrous - try KOffice for example).
482.10/23/2007 9:37:00 PMOUTLOOK EQUIVALENT; kontact is basicly unusable due to bugs; evolution does not support shared folders; thunderbird doesn't have mature calendaring
483.10/23/2007 10:08:00 PMmore co-operation, more drivers
484.10/23/2007 11:22:00 PMErgonomy!
485.10/23/2007 11:43:00 PMPCL Printing. PS3 expencive. For more Adoption, Wireless a must.
486.10/23/2007 11:43:00 PMnone
487.10/23/2007 11:45:00 PMIt's hopeless, really. Years ago there needed to be a beneficent dictator to create a unified, consistent environment for all desktop applications, but it didn't happen. So the opportunity to blow people away with scads of polished, consistent, efficient, full featured, and most of all FREE applications has been lost.
488.10/24/2007 12:00:00 AMThe main thing holding Linux back is the CADT: Cascade of Attention Deficient Teenagers development model. For example, power management features which have worked fine for years are now broken because some fool in the Gnome project decided they had to reinvent the screensaver, and they've done a dire job of it. Bugs never get fixed, things just get rewritten. Google for &quot;jwz cadt&quot; to find the article. Fix that problem, and you will fix much that is wrong with Linux.
489.10/24/2007 12:01:00 AMMarketing... Even those companies now selling desktop Linux pre-installed do nothing to get the word out.
490.10/24/2007 12:52:00 AMPhoto printing.
491.10/24/2007 1:38:00 AMGovernment acceptance &amp; compatibility of FOSS/OSS programs &amp; OS's for their funded community based organisations.
492.10/24/2007 1:42:00 AMUsability for users without technical knowledge
493.10/24/2007 1:44:00 AMMarketing and getting big companies (i. e. more Dells) to pre-install Linux as an option, in the same menu of choices as you get for MS Windows and MS Office.
494.10/24/2007 2:00:00 AMOnce again, I am assuming &quot;application packaging&quot; involves making more applications available in Linux.
495.10/24/2007 2:07:00 AMFocus on the education market. Find a way to get in the schools. These kids are going to college thinking (like I did until recently) that you get either PC or Mac. No one's ever heard of Linux or Ubuntu. If my TSSpec hadn't shown me, I wouldn't either! Seriously. Get in the schools. Bribe whoever you have to bribe, but get in the schools.
496.10/24/2007 2:09:00 AMDevice driver support for more modern scanners and the ability to synch with cell phones as PDA's.
497.10/24/2007 2:11:00 AMScanner drivers. An issue you haven't asked: When visiting an office store to purchase a new printer such as a networkable, all-in-one, how am I supposed to know if my Linux distribution (Ubuntu 7.10) has a driver for it? (A very costly mistake for me if it doesn't.) Distro's should have listing available on a website of those newer printers that have drivers already.
498.10/24/2007 2:15:00 AMprinters,hardware,etc.
499.10/24/2007 2:44:00 AMOther ways to get around &quot;dependancy hell&quot;. Maybe a decent movie editor may suffice
500.10/24/2007 2:52:00 AMread my lips - COMPATIBILITY with M$ office apps. no, not the BS compatibility that open office lends now... i mean REAL compatibility. so if i create an office file using FLOSS, some person at company X using MS Office 2007 should not be able to tell the difference... and vice versa!
501.10/24/2007 3:14:00 AMStability, Security &amp; Speed. Linux would beat even Free BSD if it would work on these three Top Priorities. I believe Free-BSD &amp; it's kin PC-BSD to be a more stable operating system over Windows or Linux, and these are the reasons why-stability, security, and speed.
502.10/24/2007 3:32:00 AMBring Enterprise IT vendors and EMAIL guys on side. IBM notes should have been packaged with open office. Open Office HAS to be liberated from SUN. IBM needs to do it not Novel. IBM needs to out Outlook. Microsoft has screwed Vista up so the opening is there. One binary application has to install on all major distro's without regard to the kernel version! (Linux Std. Interface like Wine) Start that project or get Linus to put a standard API in (will not happen) Codeweavers would be good at specifying this and get everyone to adopt apt.
503.10/24/2007 3:35:00 AMLinux is failing in the ease of installing applications. Linux needs easier to use installers that don't require an in-depth knowledge of how the library system or console works. OpenSuse's one-click install and Linspire's Click'n'Run library are moves in the right direction.
504.10/24/2007 3:53:00 AMHardware,Hardware,Hardware Abstain from IP protection pacts
505.10/24/2007 3:54:00 AMThe Linux community needs to take on the mindset that Linux SHOULD be a World Class platform. I could care less about vim/emacs religious wars give me a damned text editor that works like Notepad+, with arrow keys and &lt;CTRL&gt;-X, &lt;CTRL&gt;-C, &lt;CTRL&gt;-V for cut copy paste (kwrite, kate, kedit, gedit are all bleeding weak. Are they all the same bleeding app?). Give me a Window Manager that will NEVER lock up. Give me applications that are polished and well thought out NOT cobbled together. Make my wireless work out of the box. WPA and WEP. I know WEP is broken, but I have to work with broken hardware that only has WEP. Give me what Windows or Mac has. I'm sick of hearing, &quot;But we're not them!&quot; So? You'll never make it to the desktop without taking the best pieces from both.
506.10/24/2007 4:28:00 AMUsability improvements in installation/setup of OS, apps, drivers, updating, End-User documentation
507.10/24/2007 5:00:00 AMSpecialised applications.
508.10/24/2007 5:32:00 AMLobbying the companies for porting their applications to Linux (not only Adobe, but also more &quot;niche&quot; applications, like Trados)
509.10/24/2007 5:35:00 AMeasier to install on any computer environment.
510.10/24/2007 7:56:00 AMVPN Connections, Lotus Notes
511.10/24/2007 7:59:00 AMNative Gaming!
512.10/24/2007 8:04:00 AMThe inability to play popular games is the major item preventing people from using linux as a desktop environment. For most people a pc is just a web browser / word processor / game platform.
513.10/24/2007 8:31:00 AMSome Office and Design software would be important to focus too.
514.10/24/2007 8:38:00 AMMobile devices sync
515.10/24/2007 8:46:00 AMCompatibility with MS Windows apps (games, businnes), services, file formats, webpages, devices etc. GUI server management.
516.10/24/2007 8:51:00 AMOffice applications / groupware (MS Exchange compatible)
517.10/24/2007 9:13:00 AMSpeech recognition Easy to use Customer Relationship Management (like Highrise for the Desktop)
518.10/24/2007 10:13:00 AMPublicity - most people I talk to still have no idea that there is a viable alternative to Windoze
519.10/24/2007 10:16:00 AMI believe the topproblem is interoperability with MS Office documents and the fact that there is no government that says: you must use an open document format or something like that!!!!
520.10/24/2007 10:31:00 AMDesktop management.
521.10/24/2007 10:36:00 AMFor home use - games
522.10/24/2007 10:39:00 AMMore consumer retail availability. Most business app trends have started in the home.
523.10/24/2007 10:48:00 AMMake application installation the same on all distros. Try to standardize OS folder structures more.
524.10/24/2007 11:02:00 AMConsistency
525.10/24/2007 11:04:00 AMFactory related software: from the order of the parts, to the warehousing, to the production line, and the finished product. Also integrated with customer offers software in a way that we can tell just how much time will pass between an offer accepted, and the product ready to ship. Also CAD software
526.10/24/2007 11:15:00 AMPorting of games to linux.
527.10/24/2007 11:32:00 AMSUSPEND HIBERNATE on ALL LAPTOPS
528.10/24/2007 11:32:00 AMdocument exchange, PDF generation, integration with e.g. Active Directory
529.10/24/2007 11:39:00 AMWindows compatibility - My company's major obstacle is a mission-critical vertical application that is bolted into Internet Explorer and the Windows desktop.
530.10/24/2007 11:59:00 AMSyncing PDA via bluetooth and other methods easly
531.10/24/2007 12:12:00 PMCreate space for proprietary software and hardware. Not to fight with everything that is not GNU GPL
532.10/24/2007 12:31:00 PMSome extra details on my above responce: Application packaging: distro repositories are the best system I've ever seen, but some secure way of getting software straight form the devs for software not in the repositories would be useful. Fon'ts and document fidelity: seems like a solved problem to me. Linux Desktop standards: Don't worry about it, the fact that most distros use KDE or Gnome make this a solved problem.
533.10/24/2007 12:46:00 PMOverall Management of workstations.
534.10/24/2007 12:50:00 PMI use Ubuntu on my home machine (and have previously used Fedora at work for other jobs). Linux's two glaring deficiencies is correct printer running (I can't get my HP6310 to do duplex right) and clipboard. I guess I might also add non-standard dialogs (different print, save, load dialogs for Firefox, OO, Gimp, and std KDE apps, for instance)
535.10/24/2007 12:58:00 PMMake office products (open office, scribus, skype, etc.) more robust. They are all weak...
536.10/24/2007 1:04:00 PMBrowser plugin support
537.10/24/2007 1:11:00 PMoffice suite document compatibility ease of use for windows refugees
538.10/24/2007 1:33:00 PMI'm mostly ignorant about the options available, but a competitor to Microsoft's Active Directory/Domain implementation. Currently all that I'm aware of is Apple's OpenDirectory implementation. I'm not aware of how &quot;Open&quot; it truly is. Perhaps more marketing from the different distro providers about their approach to this would be useful.
539.10/24/2007 1:39:00 PM1. Import /export to outlook 2. One place to find templates and install easy 3. Connect tools 4. Fix graphics to run at design parameters
540.10/24/2007 1:41:00 PMGet AutoDesk and Adobe to port their products to Linux.
541.10/24/2007 1:45:00 PMSomeone needs to convince Linus that breaking the kernel ABI with every version is a really bad idea.
542.10/24/2007 1:46:00 PMwireless has to handle all major standards natively and easily for our basic users like the Intel wireless set does for Windows machines
543.10/24/2007 1:48:00 PMeasier setup of small office / home office networking.
544.10/24/2007 1:49:00 PMFor a single user, installation and upgrades is excellent. Not as easy as on a Mac, but much better than a Windows install!
545.10/24/2007 1:50:00 PMApplication usage &amp; installation &amp; management.
546.10/24/2007 1:59:00 PMWINE support for Windows applications
547.10/24/2007 2:01:00 PMas of now, linux already fits the bill. The information somehow needs to be brought to the organization's door step.
548.10/24/2007 2:11:00 PMEase of application installation accross distributions.
549.10/24/2007 2:14:00 PMVoip over IM
550.10/24/2007 2:28:00 PMOf all I think the cross-distro standards are the most important because they will enable other efforts, usually distro-specific, to have a broader impact.
551.10/24/2007 2:29:00 PMBetter support for Apple's products.
552.10/24/2007 2:34:00 PMTo make installation of an application easier, easy configuration and establish standards
553.10/24/2007 2:51:00 PMBusiness specific applications.
554.10/24/2007 2:53:00 PMComprehensive and easily available end user documentation.
555.10/24/2007 2:54:00 PMYou shouldn't be running this survey on a microshaft winblows server running internet information subverter
556.10/24/2007 2:58:00 PMBluetooth support needs to be greatly improved. Windows does this a whole lot better than linux. Only took me 3 or 4 minutes to get it set up on my work system....took me 2 days on linux before I gave up in frustration.
557.10/24/2007 3:00:00 PMplain language User documentation and help framework for non-technical users, less CLI fallback to correct issues,
558.10/24/2007 3:02:00 PMAccounting software for Small Business
559.10/24/2007 3:21:00 PMHaving Adobe Photoshop suite available would allow me to use Linux in my organization exclusively. Currently we have a mixed environment, but are eager to change that due to cost, management and reliability benefits that come with Linux.
560.10/24/2007 3:26:00 PMLack of standards is the root of most of my Linux problems. With cross-distro standards more/better applications will be available from open source and proprietary sources
561.10/24/2007 3:29:00 PMAn easier way for both common and IT users to compile a Kernel, allowing more streamlined (and faster) Kernel for specific systems.
562.10/24/2007 3:32:00 PMwine -- the ability to run windows programs on linux. This is by far the most critical issue for me using linux. Linux and related open source packages are already good enough for the things that they do. What I need is to be able to migrate my final Windows programs over to my linux desktop -- these are highly specialized programs for which there are no open source substitutes. (Right now I'm able to run these programs on a separate XP machine and access them via tsclient.)
563.10/24/2007 3:33:00 PMMarketing
564.10/24/2007 3:38:00 PMWindows apps and devices
565.10/24/2007 3:40:00 PMgaming support via the major online games
566.10/24/2007 3:50:00 PMfaster development cycles
567.10/24/2007 4:07:00 PMBring application vendors to Linux. Prove to application vendors how important Free and Open Standards are. Device recognition and syncing. Fonts moreso than document fidelity (we have ODF afterall)
568.10/24/2007 4:09:00 PMA standardized installer/upgrader/uninstaller for commercial binary applications that will work with multiple distributions. More or less an InstallShield for linux. Installing 3rd party applications now is just a mess.
569.10/24/2007 4:09:00 PMLinux needs a lot more entertainment based proprietary software. People don't buy computers at home for work, they buy them for entertainment. Productivity suites and video editing software do not sell computers to the average home user, flashy games and music do. It's the home user that needs to be conviced to use linux, not businesses, business will follow.
570.10/24/2007 4:25:00 PMEvangelization of the Linux desktop as a whole, and how it can benefit all types of users.
571.10/24/2007 4:25:00 PMI want to emphasize that the ability of a program to run cross-distro and for several years is a great need. Upgrades to features should only enhance. Thus the numbering of a program should indicate if it is a new version or merely an upgrade to an existing. version. IE all 2.0 or 2.2 versions should run on the same platform. Movement to a 3.0 version might indicate an upgrade in the underling OS compatibility or a major change to the program.
572.10/24/2007 4:38:00 PMNone of the items in the above table comes close in importance to marketing. Consumer awareness is by far the biggest obstacle to Linux uptake. Until someone like IBM or Mark Shuttleworth spends the thousands to put a Linux commercial on TV, we will have, for the foreseeable future, Linux desktop use measured in the ~1% range.
573.10/24/2007 4:49:00 PMBetter usage of resources
574.10/24/2007 5:02:00 PMBegin to get into community gatherings and start a grass roots showing of the environment and how it works and then it capablility in the Small or large Business environment as well.
575.10/24/2007 5:22:00 PMPublic education
576.10/24/2007 5:29:00 PMfile categorizing. (type windows file extensions) EXTRAMLY IMPORTANT
577.10/24/2007 5:32:00 PMEducation
578.10/24/2007 5:44:00 PMpda, blackberry support
579.10/24/2007 6:04:00 PMCode efficiency. I'm starting to see a lot of code bloat in many Linux apps. Shiny GUIs are no substitute for tight (preferably native) code.
580.10/24/2007 6:04:00 PMAn Outlook replacement is absolutely necessary. No, Evolution doesn't apply. It can't connect to Exchange 2007.
581.10/24/2007 6:22:00 PMcomplete help and documentation (for distro/desktop enviornment/applications) integrated with the installation.
582.10/24/2007 6:23:00 PMMake *everything* Just Work as drop-in replacement for Windows. (I know, easier said than done...)
583.10/24/2007 6:39:00 PMlaptop power management, CPU scaling, video drivers; winmodem support
584.10/24/2007 6:42:00 PMThe better Wine gets at running odd/small Windows programs the better the chances small offices will be able to use linux on the desktop.
585.10/24/2007 6:54:00 PMGet rid of software patents. Nov 4, 2008: Remember what happened to a major anti-trust case after the Nov 2000 US elections; vote accordingly.
586.10/24/2007 7:13:00 PMWireless management still seems to be a flaky dog's dinner, though improving! Straightforward font management is taken for granted in Windows, but remains a lottery, most often obscure, in Linux.
587.10/24/2007 7:37:00 PMThe availability of open source drives and good hardware specifications are crucial to keep the easy of deployment. The ATI graphical card being open sourced announcement already made us switch to this product for new PC's.
588.10/24/2007 8:13:00 PMApplication Quality
589.10/24/2007 8:20:00 PMWireless Wireless Wireless Wireless!!!!
590.10/24/2007 8:34:00 PMLaptop sleep/hibernate
591.10/24/2007 8:35:00 PMclosed-source drivers are suitable for proprietary hardware, as long as a driver is available somehow
592.10/24/2007 9:38:00 PMvideo conferencing
593.10/24/2007 9:50:00 PMDevice drivers across the board: most users can figure things out as long as all their hardware works.
594.10/24/2007 10:27:00 PM3D gaming
595.10/24/2007 10:30:00 PMWell, after reading stuff like this: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007102408501134 And reading the case of OOXML... A top priority should be marketing within politicians, otherwise, any widespread adoption will be mined. I believe MS and other companies are getting closer to make GPL'ed stuff difficult to survive, at least in Europe.
596.10/24/2007 10:32:00 PMSupport for older hardware needs to be loadable option. Remove &quot;software bloat&quot; from some applications. Build GUIs for many tasks that today require command-line use.
597.10/24/2007 11:00:00 PMAutoCAD!!!
598.10/24/2007 11:02:00 PMI hope Linux can support SiS graphic card, because my labtop is using SiS graphic chip, and I hope my labtop can run XGL, because the xgl only can using on my desktop and Linux only support Nvidia and ATI chips. I also hopping Linux have more games.
599.10/24/2007 11:18:00 PMEase of use. More Gui driven configuration/Administraton. Easier cross platform networking.
600.10/24/2007 11:29:00 PMStandards are my biggest issue, if I could get a distro as stable and tool-happy as RHEL/CentOS, and as uncluttered and simple as Ubuntu, I'd be in heaven. Instead, we have to stick with Ubuntu on Desktop only, and RHEL/CentOS for servers.
601.10/24/2007 11:52:00 PMIf there would been better driver support and more games more users would use linux.
602.10/24/2007 11:59:00 PMCMYK support for Gimp, more polished games and easier (for the newbie to understand) multimedia applications and configuration are all constantly complained about by new users and FUD manufacturers.
603.10/25/2007 12:01:00 AM- Need a Free work-alike of MS Access, but better database support. - Finance software. (QuickBooks is bad, but it's the only game in town... even in Windows.) - Media production software like Dreamwever/Photoshop/InDesign. (GIMP needs a new interface, or kill it.)
604.10/25/2007 12:29:00 AMSoftware with installer would be very helpful.
605.10/25/2007 1:31:00 AMCompatibility for games, point and click use and setup. Design it so that a Linux OS will be, at the very least, idiot-friendly. :)
606.10/25/2007 2:20:00 AMif the directory structure was uniform across distributions that would be a great help.
607.10/25/2007 2:36:00 AMAutoCAD format read/write support (*.dwg) - Top Priority PDF document editing (similar to Adobe Acrobat) - Top Priority
608.10/25/2007 2:54:00 AMUser documentation - Top
609.10/25/2007 5:00:00 AMFree 3-D MCAD package development
610.10/25/2007 5:04:00 AMencourage vendors like adobe to release native linux versions of applications like Photoshop. Wine works ok for some applications (though not photoshop) but it stil feels like a &quot;hack.&quot; The apps that do run in wine look clunky with difficult to read fonts, etc. Many businesses will view that as an unacceptable alternative. Linux applications need to look right and run natively, not emulated through wine.
611.10/25/2007 7:46:00 AMGaming
612.10/25/2007 7:54:00 AMThe availability of descent ERP, CRM applications is critical, in my view, for the adoption of Linux for desktop use.
613.10/25/2007 8:07:00 AMCooperation from proprietary applications (i.e.: AutoCAD, QuickBooks / Peachtree) that have poor equivalent applications in Linux. Somewhat concerned about bloat... fork server &amp; desktop?
614.10/25/2007 8:43:00 AMGet Photoshop, Outlook, Quickbooks Pro (may already be available) and a few major games like Half-Life 2, BioShock, Hellgate:London, World or Warcraft, etc., and watch the people move to Linux in flocks.
615.10/25/2007 10:06:00 AMMarketing (i.e. promoting Linux)
616.10/25/2007 11:06:00 AMRaise ubiquity of SELinux with its strict policy and easy-to-use management tools for it.
617.10/25/2007 11:21:00 AMpromoting the availability of a linux version of software that already runs on Mac OSX. this would require minimal effort and would make Linux more visible for regular users
618.10/25/2007 12:27:00 PMVideo Editing Workstations
619.10/25/2007 12:39:00 PMFor business desktop users, familiarity with windows and addiction to MS Office are the biggest obstacles. For developers, a replacement for visual studio and the ability to port code from that IDE to linux would be required.
620.10/25/2007 12:48:00 PMNo windows user has a hope in hell of understanding why or how the *nix files are organized. What is '/', why do bin, boot, etc, initrd, lib, mnt, opt, sbin, srv, var, &amp; usr exist? What are they? Where is the 'programs' folder? Where do I install my new software. How do I find anything? Why can't I change it to what I want? Windows lets me organize my menu the way _I_ want, why can't I that in Linux if it is so good? Why can't I just have 'OS', 'Programs' and 'My Documents'?? Clearly this will never change, but windows users will be intimidated by it.
621.10/25/2007 12:50:00 PMThe next big group that could potentially be attracted to Linux would be gamers, using a combination of a smaller OS footprint, proper drivers and something like wine. As soon as benchmarks for top games become better for Linux, gamers will be switching in droves.
622.10/25/2007 12:53:00 PMI think the most important step that would make so many users who are using other kind of operating systems make the switch and give linux a try is the ability to play their games on their computers like they do with their computers right now. We have tried to install linux on some of our customers computers and once they know that they can't play their games on it they change their mind and when I mean games I mean the big games like from EA or UBI soft ... I know it sound funny but the people who are interested in pc games are all over the world and linux will take the biggest step ever if their is a solution to this.
623.10/25/2007 1:06:00 PMDocumentation on how to prepare and combine LDAP, SMTP, IMAP and WebDAV server to produce the equivalent of an Exchange server including the desktop client settings for popular e-mail clients (Outlook, Evolution, Firebird, ...) to get workgroup capabilities. As an extra: also document interfacing to telephony, IM, sync servers such as Asterisk, Jabber and Funambol reusing information between the servers.
624.10/25/2007 1:21:00 PMI am not sure. I get it and use Ubuntu at home. Other [sic] techy's in my office dont even seem to know that Linux isn't only command line. Our clients dont want to learn a new interface. For some strange reason,, people like Outlook (make a more stable outlook with same IO)
625.10/25/2007 1:23:00 PMMake for better multimedia, audio recording, video capture, etc.
626.10/25/2007 1:32:00 PMIf you don't already freely support Linux, then we won't purchase your hardware.
627.10/25/2007 1:41:00 PMbetter support and documentation for USB devices. I.E. web cams, cable modems, printers. Most devices are now going to USB architecture.
628.10/25/2007 1:41:00 PMGames...high quality games that compete with games on the windows platforms.
629.10/25/2007 1:43:00 PMWe need a simple program that will let us make photo lab quality prints in all sizes. Must allow printer settings for quality.
630.10/25/2007 1:47:00 PMJust fixing all the bugs!
631.10/25/2007 1:49:00 PMEnsuring media awareness that computing !== MS. We are inundated by radio and TV consumer programs warning about spam and on-line security problems. They always bring in &quot;industry experts&quot; that recommend buying stuff to make MS software less unsafe. They never point out that most problems can be side-stepped by not using MS. The real decision makers (politicians and &quot;heads of industry&quot;) are not IT professionals and get there knowledge from the general media and advertising.
632.10/25/2007 1:50:00 PMPre-installs from major PC manufactures Promotion of the Linux Porting of commercial apps to Linux
633.10/25/2007 1:50:00 PMImprove the quality and comprehensiveness of GUI based system configuration tools.
634.10/25/2007 2:02:00 PMLinux already is doing all of this so this is irrelevant. The desktop is a myth as most people don't even know what 'desktop' means.
635.10/25/2007 2:07:00 PMUser GUI for lots of useful commands. User app/GUI for cross platform Mt Rainier RW media.
636.10/25/2007 2:11:00 PMTraining
637.10/25/2007 2:13:00 PMdrivers, drivers, drivers
638.10/25/2007 2:24:00 PMNovell SLED 10 had the drivers to install on my preferred laptop (Lenovo T60P), but the support requires an IT department and/or a large contract with a corporation-oriented support service. Ubuntu has a support program appropriate for small individual users, but lacks the drivers to install on my laptop without complications requiring expertise to install. If Novell provided (paid) support I could afford, or if Ubuntu could install on my laptop, I would be a lot more confident that my long-term future could be with Linux.
639.10/25/2007 2:34:00 PMHands on marketing and end user interaction - SHOW them it is ready - So many out there have never even heard of Linux yet
640.10/25/2007 2:44:00 PMMarketing - educate the decision makers
641.10/25/2007 2:45:00 PMUnless you are talking about corporate desktop exclusively, games are a major factor holding Linux adoption right now. A complete cross-desktop game building API, or a mostly perfect directx implementation for Linux as a (dirty) second option would make a lot for Linux's success. Better accelerated graphics are mandatory for this to happen, though.
642.10/25/2007 3:02:00 PMMultimedia capabiities out-of-the-box - CD-ripping, MP3 playback, commercial DVD playback.
643.10/25/2007 3:03:00 PMApplication support
644.10/25/2007 3:06:00 PMI'm sorry to keep hitting on the same key, but with my Apple MacBook Pro, I can open it up and instantly join any wireless network. I've spent HOURS trying to get a Linux-based notebook to connect and in the end just turn the thing off and use my Mac. I don't want to hear excuses of proprietary drivers. I just want it to work. The exact same thing goes for Graphics and Projectors. I can't tell you how many times I've seen at conferences someone using Linux attempt to plug-in their Linux-based notebook to the projector, waste oodles of time trying to get it to work, and then ultimately give up. What happens next? Someone with a Mac/Windows-based laptop walks right up, plugs in, and displays the presentation. How utterly embarrassing for Linux. It's entirely laughable. I would say projector and wireless support should be the very top two priorities for every Linux distribution. Who cares what other features Linux has if it can't even pull off simple network connectivity and display a presentation.
645.10/25/2007 3:21:00 PMGames. Seems like a joke but it's not; I fully believe the success of the desktop is dependent upon getting major game titles on the platform. The other area I would identify would be device enablement and synchronization - MP3 players, PDAs, smart phones, etc.
646.10/25/2007 3:23:00 PMISV &quot;recruiting&quot; - get commercial ISVs engaged with the community to build tools, docs, etc. that those ISVs need.
647.10/25/2007 3:25:00 PMaccounting software similar to quick book / peachtree
648.10/25/2007 3:32:00 PMPlease, dear god, come up with an email client that supports Microsoft Exchange servers. Evolution is a piece of crap and can't be trusted to function consistently. Somebody, please, include this functionality in Thunderbird!!!
649.10/25/2007 3:36:00 PMFree software drivers instead of open source drivers! Proprietary drivers can also has &quot;open source&quot;.
650.10/25/2007 3:36:00 PMMaking applications / window managers less resource hungry, as Linux tends to need more ram/cpu/hdd, than a comparable Windows installation.
651.10/25/2007 3:54:00 PMJohn Doe wants multimedia, Multimedia, MULTImedia and MULTIMEDIA ! He also wants games, Games and GAMES...
652.10/25/2007 4:04:00 PMApplication speed (time to load, etc.)
653.10/25/2007 4:22:00 PMAlthough there are preinstalled offerings, in the region we are in (Africa) this is not available. OSS could have much more impact in this region if there would be more attention not to the western needs. I18n can be a huge pro for oss.
654.10/25/2007 4:23:00 PMEvangelism?
655.10/25/2007 4:28:00 PMsmall business &amp; corporate accounting programs equal w/ quickbooks, quicken, turbolinux etc. gnucash is very close.
656.10/25/2007 4:52:00 PMPersuade computer and device manufacturers to increase their support for Linux to the same level as MS Windows.
657.10/25/2007 4:54:00 PMBeing able to connect to our ERP systems (AS400, Unix)
658.10/25/2007 5:32:00 PMMS Visual Studio is still the best IDE available. I have yet to find a linux equivalent. Printing (which should be easy) is still a HUGE pain in the neck often forcing me to reboot into windows. Power management is just aweful - hibernate never works, sleep usually crashes (same on windows though...). Wireless with WEP and WPA still requires that I jump through hoops (it's workable, but also a pain.)
659.10/25/2007 5:39:00 PMAutodesk AutoCAD
660.10/25/2007 5:40:00 PMWine. Wine. Winelib. Wine. Make it not a house of flaky cards.
661.10/25/2007 5:43:00 PM1)wireless, need to be able to change networks for non-technical users 2)Need peripherals and drivers to work on install 3)Power management is important now as electricity gets more expensive.
662.10/25/2007 5:50:00 PMUsability
663.10/25/2007 5:51:00 PMLinux desktops feel cobbled together from a thousand sources. They're getting better but they hardly inspire confidence. Without that confidence, forget it. We use Linux for all servers however. Without a desktop environment, Linux is gold.
664.10/25/2007 6:20:00 PMGroupware Exchange Replacement Active Directory-alike Desktop Management
665.10/25/2007 6:24:00 PMLike Ubuntu does, after live cd experiance for future users, a clean install beside existing windows. And possibility to use the windows filesystem, so users can use there document right away. Ease of adoption.
666.10/25/2007 6:28:00 PMBehave like Windows, run what I run on Windows, allow me to do what I can do on Windows, etc.
667.10/25/2007 7:00:00 PMnote: international language support make sense with FULL translation, not kind of mixed english+other language desktop (applications)
668.10/25/2007 7:02:00 PMIntegration howtos..... leveraging HAL, GConf, Nautilus/Thunar, etc.... Perhaps simpler methods/example code for interconnecting say, Open Office and GIMP (for example)
669.10/25/2007 7:02:00 PMConsistent UI guidelines need to be created, and enforced. This is very important for less sophisticated end users. See Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for a prime example of what needs to be done. This is the reason cross platform apps like Firefox look fine on Windows and Linux, but stand out like a sore thumb on Macs
670.10/25/2007 7:24:00 PMHQ games
671.10/25/2007 7:27:00 PMGetting Windows-only software vendors to port to Linux
672.10/25/2007 7:51:00 PM-Plug and play for external screens -get more vendors to sell preinstalled Linux computers WITH COMPLETE HARDWARE SUPPORT
673.10/25/2007 8:19:00 PMConcentrate on the Server side.
674.10/25/2007 8:37:00 PMEncouraging and aiding non-Linux hardware and software vendors to provide Linux support that is on par with their support of their other platforms.
675.10/25/2007 8:55:00 PMApplication GUI creation has to be as simple as in Visual Studio
676.10/25/2007 9:04:00 PMWINE. Applications are the roadblock.
677.10/25/2007 9:24:00 PMA better, standardized method of package distribution, installation, and dependency resolution is critical. This is probably the most frustrating thing about Linux.
678.10/25/2007 10:10:00 PMGAMING. WE LINUXERS WANT REAL GAMES FOR LINUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!
679.10/25/2007 10:17:00 PMThe best way to encourage corporate and entrepreneurial adoption of Linux on the desktop is to make the transition from Windows as seamless as possible. The ability to access proprietary data formats from Windows apps with equivalent Linux apps, using similar user interfaces and command structures, will be essential if corporations (or single entrepreneurs) are to embrace Linux as wholeheartedly as they have desktop computing in general. Engineers want to be able to access their old drawings and create new ones without having to learn a new CAD program. Corporate sales needs to keep on using all of it's contact management data without learning a new system of keyword-searching the database. The bulk of your potential users could come from (currently) Windows-only houses if only the transition weren't so painful. The only other source of advocates will be young people, fresh from college or other environment in which they may have been exposed to Linux, but the majority of whom will have to start in Windows environments as a part of their employment.
680.10/25/2007 10:27:00 PMSAMBA, methodologies for moving away from Windows environments, document/spreadsheet/presentation/etc converters for the many documents shared to or received from others
681.10/25/2007 10:48:00 PMreliability (or freedom from failure)
682.10/25/2007 11:06:00 PMGroupware, Importing files and settings from elsewhere (eg, Windows)
683.10/25/2007 11:33:00 PMAbility to accept external CAD input devices
684.10/25/2007 11:37:00 PMApplication packaging/distribution: a cross-distro distribution channel for commercial software (trial and full versions). Bitrock is a great start for building distro-independent installers, though expensive - a cheaper solution would be nice. But then, where do users go to download, try, and buy these commercial applications? There are no definitive sites (like download.com or game portals) for commercial Linux apps and games. There are some mission-critical applications for us, like Frontpage, FeedForAll, Project, and Quicken, for which there are no equivalent open source applications. There are some wannabees, but none that match the ease-of-use nor breadth and richness of features. These applications run pretty well under Crossover Linux, and we're getting by with that solution for now. But we would really like to see open source or commercial equivalents that run natively on Linux.
685.10/26/2007 12:22:00 AMThe lower cost and more stable Linux would already be the dominant desktop OS if it had the same software choice as Windows. So, to speed adoption either popular Windows only applications must be ported to Linux or new cross platform applications must be developed.
686.10/26/2007 12:26:00 AMCUPS rules!
687.10/26/2007 12:46:00 AMPeople like eye-candy, one reason macs have done so well is that they look sexy. Joe public needs to be impressed before he can be bother to change. I think that compiz fusion is going to be a major factor in GNU/Linux desktop adoption.
688.10/26/2007 2:56:00 AMDevelopers Being more accepting of other developers
689.10/26/2007 3:12:00 AMNetwork Monitoring Tools, More/Netter:Active Directory Integration, Better, Remote Desktop Clients..something similar to Windows, with option for connecting to either Windows/Linux, machines.
690.10/26/2007 3:32:00 AMMarketing GNU/Linux as a better operating system with more benefits than Microsoft vista.
691.10/26/2007 4:11:00 AMApplications!
692.10/26/2007 4:43:00 AMEasier to integrate plugins.
693.10/26/2007 5:45:00 AMCommercial Games. People by PC's at home to play games. This what MS does well. Until the games are all available on Linux at the same time as on MS, and run and LOOK as good as they are on MS, people will not be interested.
694.10/26/2007 6:20:00 AMLobbying for proprietary software vendors to port their applications to linux, or even better, open source some of those.
695.10/26/2007 7:28:00 AMDesktop usability studies for major desktop apps/ components such as scribus, cups etc.
696.10/26/2007 8:07:00 AMDatabase
697.10/26/2007 8:43:00 AMThe package management must get better.. The released distribution to be better tested.. Release 12 monthly - no sooner - let things settle.
698.10/26/2007 8:45:00 AMLinux needs to &quot;just work&quot; on a laptop at least as well as Microsoft XP SP2 does. Wireless networking, 3G networking, Power Management (both run time and suspend/resume), dual-head graphics (for projectors), and support for printers/scanners etc etc MUST work reliably before anyone other than the most technical of &quot;commercial users&quot; can risk adoption.
699.10/26/2007 9:09:00 AMFonts/docs -fonts fine with the good freetype algorithm - must sort out IP issues as without it fonts are abysmal.
700.10/26/2007 9:10:00 AMProject management that work with VSS(interoperable). There are softwares to do the work of MS visio, but we need those files to work with linux (interoperable). Only then we can do it and deliver it to the clients who might be using windows.
701.10/26/2007 9:46:00 AMcross platform support tools
702.10/26/2007 9:59:00 AMAccessibility
703.10/26/2007 10:23:00 AMLaptop specific functions
704.10/26/2007 10:47:00 AMGaming
705.10/26/2007 10:54:00 AMCertification of notebooks to run various distributions - especially getting manufactures/OEM's like dell to note this/ link to details (eg &quot;Linux certification level&quot; link to certification site). Even more important having Linux distro's directly placed as an option vs Windows on machines - definitely not as just a separate &quot;Linux laptop&quot;. I mean definitely have eg a &quot;designed for Ubuntu Linux&quot; machine (like designed for Windows XP labels/advertising)but sell it with windows as an option - position Linux as a true competitor not just a niche option.
706.10/26/2007 11:41:00 AMCODECs
707.10/26/2007 12:05:00 PMLaptop specific requirements: Suspend, Hibernate, Battery/Power, Displays, Docks, Wireless.
708.10/26/2007 12:18:00 PMHardware support for new devices.
709.10/26/2007 12:29:00 PMGames. For Linux to succed we need linux at home and gaming platform is a major fucus in which O/S the gets installed
710.10/26/2007 1:18:00 PMSoftware integration
711.10/26/2007 1:32:00 PMApplications to replace and integrate with the major Windows-specific apps: Office, Exchange (Group collaboration), Sharepoint, etc.
712.10/26/2007 1:46:00 PMa web browser that can match up with explorer
713.10/26/2007 2:16:00 PMNetwork manager not up to scratch yet, especially with static IP addresses, secure wireless access points (keyring password every access etc.), and difficulty with installing bluetooth phones as modems etc.
714.10/26/2007 4:00:00 PMFor business needs, a stable development environment is crucial. I would love to see support for more hardware such as TV tuner cards, but that is for personal use.
715.10/26/2007 4:03:00 PMDesktop management, something like ZENworks Linux Management, but actually works as advertised!
716.10/26/2007 5:10:00 PMGUIS, easy to use configuration tools Cut-n-paste across all apps remains problematic
717.10/26/2007 6:10:00 PMA maintained equivalence matrix of applications that can be used in place of Microsoft products is really needed so customers can be certain that when they switch they can still perform business as usual.
718.10/26/2007 6:45:00 PMBetter application support is a must, even if you need to use wine, crossover or other method to achieve this. MUST have package installers which won't break or get mixed up dependencies, and which won't require you to manually modify the source list, this is too much for the average user and not user friendly at all.
719.10/26/2007 8:43:00 PMnot needed for business usage, but a major hurdle in desktop integration is the lack of or difficulty in playing games on Linux, like Counter-Strike, Bioshock, etc. Many gamers, can't switch to Linux because they can't game on Linux. Wine and Cedega help, but they aren't enough. They still require lots of tweaking, and some games just don't work even with tweaks.
720.10/26/2007 8:49:00 PMWine is a very important project. Cause it can make Linux-systems run many &quot;narrow applications&quot; that never will be ported. Like applications that do accounting/taxes for a specific country. Scheduling/booking for tanning. Or whatever is out there.
721.10/26/2007 8:59:00 PMEducational apps. These *have* to work with Linux. Otherwise you won't see it in the schools, and the kids will grow up thinking that MS Windows *is* &quot;computers&quot;. Not good. Also, Evolution's got to work better with MS Exchange than it currently does.
722.10/26/2007 10:11:00 PMRallying the world around ODF and against proprietary Microsoft file format.
723.10/27/2007 12:56:00 AMLinux ports of proprietary Windows-only products!
724.10/27/2007 1:24:00 AMDesktop Publishing
725.10/27/2007 2:45:00 AMSCHOOLS, EDUCATION, PUBLIC SERVICE ORGS. FREE TOOLS FOR STUDENTS.
726.10/27/2007 10:49:00 AMA 'Just Works' out of the box experience is critical.
727.10/27/2007 11:20:00 AMvideo editing ease of running Windows applications
728.10/27/2007 7:19:00 PMdrivers for new hardware
729.10/27/2007 8:07:00 PMThere needs to be a all in one driver for multifunction printers(coping, scanning, faxing, e-mail) to automate office for these printers. Webcam for conferences etc... Multi monitor support, GPS with Map support
730.10/27/2007 9:03:00 PMImprove dkms/kernel module packaging so that and end-user does not have to build madwifi to get support. Enthusiasts will do what it takes to get VPN working right by building from the source and applying patches, but skeptics will stop as soon as you tell them that they have to build software to install it.
731.10/28/2007 12:24:00 AMjust making all the pieces fit together seamlessly. There really should be more common services that all apps can use, and to which all peripherals communicate. Also, consistency in the UI: for example, when I want to open a file using &quot;open with&quot; options, I am presented a generic nautilus screen!!! WHy not give me a list of registered/installed applications? Or, at least give me the programs menu to navigate through. Simple, silly stuff like that is huge
732.10/28/2007 3:25:00 AM* We *really* need to sort out the mencoder/ffmpeg stack mess. There needs to be coverage of more codecs by tools that are free enough for ubuntu/fedora to redistribute freely. The current situation for DVD creation is nothing short of abysmal; every package with a decent GUI relies on mencoder. * By &quot;cross-desktop environment&quot; I am assuming you mean works on Linux/Windows/OSX desktop? * Ensuring freeness in documentation as well as code. Deferring this just leads to backward steps later on; applications can suddenly become unavailable because of a licensing violation (which few end users will understand).
733.10/28/2007 7:21:00 AMSecuring all of GNU/Linux with GPLv3
734.10/28/2007 7:27:00 AMThe problem is that these are all top-priority. What might have been a better choice for this survey would be to have a ranking of all of these, and an option to add more to the ranking. This way you could get people's individual need hierarchy. Personally, I am very vested in power-management, but that is not the most important for linux adoption (and I think adoption is the most important thing overall). What would be the most immediately beneficial towards adoption would be to get a slice of the gamer market, but that won't happen until there are native, high-quality, new games for linux. That means convincing companies to write for linux. And that won't happen until there's much better graphic support. It's a catch-22 but them's the digs.
735.10/28/2007 8:26:00 AMSupport of games native to linux. Like from makers of EA games as a example.
736.10/28/2007 10:17:00 AMCompatibility of fonts and document formats with Mac and Windows users for Chinese characters and layout.
737.10/28/2007 10:49:00 AMBrowser plugins (easy to install)
738.10/28/2007 2:12:00 PMBetter plug &amp; play device support. Increased use of kernel/application hardening patches from groups like GrSecurity, SELinux, ProPolice/SSP, etc.
739.10/28/2007 3:14:00 PMIn built video players is very important, so that when I install any Linux OS, I should not have to search the web to install a DVD player.
740.10/28/2007 4:43:00 PMGaming, gaming, gaming...
741.10/28/2007 5:05:00 PMThe deal-breaker for us is MS-Access. We receive Access applications routinely from funders, and reporting is required in this format. An MS-Access like database front end development tool would also be helpful.
742.10/28/2007 5:11:00 PMExposure. Think about the iPhone: Geeks knew about it and told a lot of people well before it was released. The general public though, still didn't know about it until they saw the commercials on TV, demonstrating the capabilities (that everyone expects from a phone) built into the innovative new interface. Linux needs this, and is greatly comparable in my opinion. Maybe just one small series of commercials, highlighting Linux's capabilities (that everyone expects from a desktop) built into the innovative 'new' interface would be enough to get the public in general thinking about Linux in a new way (or at all for those who have never heard of it). If we could get the general public to covet Linux, I believe desktop Linux adoption would be greatly accelerated. When the general public get's the 'ooh!' factor going for something, it does not matter what little 'problems' it may have, they will be worked out because of the pure desire to 'have one too': everyone will want to capitalise on this 'next big thing' and money will find it's way to solutions.
743.10/28/2007 5:35:00 PMEncourage / Support software vendors to port their Windows Applications to Linux. Make OpenOffice more &quot;Word&quot;-like / userfriendly. Otherwise Koffice might take the place of OO in the long term.
744.10/28/2007 5:42:00 PMImprove mobile devices support.
745.10/28/2007 11:21:00 PMVoice recognition Software with similar capacity and usability to SPSS and Autocad
746.10/29/2007 1:57:00 AMForget the intellectual correctness and develop a WINDOWS-server knock-off GUI that can let Everyman install the monster in a familiar way. Resources are abundant and cheap, and we need speed and functionality installing and making the thing work, despite the fact that it could be making 60% use of the resource instead of 80-90%. Right now we have command-line stuff. I don't have time for that c**p when teaching 40hr weeks in addition to performing paid work! God Bless all who work on creating a human alternative to MS.
747.10/29/2007 3:21:00 AMbluetooth, easy accessibility from windows desktop, easy printer sharing to windows desktop.
748.10/29/2007 6:30:00 AMWireless
749.10/29/2007 6:58:00 AMGAMES
750.10/29/2007 9:36:00 AMIMHO Installing Linux is still a challenge. I have about 4 years of overall experience with different Linux and BSD systems. Still each time when I get a new computer (desktop, laptop, server) to install I'm not sure when and how the installation will end. OK - a &quot;stand alone Linux&quot; scenario is pretty stable. But try to install the Vista-Linux dual boot with Microsoft' boot loader... It's a trick... And one more wish - wireless drivers, please...
751.10/29/2007 12:42:00 PMdesktop performance
752.10/29/2007 1:02:00 PMGames
753.10/29/2007 1:57:00 PMUnified logging for system diagnostic purposes. Docmentation for diagnostic purposes. Documentation that does not assume a &quot;gear head&quot; reader -- too much documentation is either at the marketing novice level or at the long-time kernel developer level.
754.10/29/2007 2:13:00 PM* Open-source native Exchange connector for email and calendaring (no OWA) in all major linux mail clients (kmail, evolution, thunderbird).
755.10/29/2007 3:29:00 PMIt would be good to see some improvements in electical/electronic software available to Linux (schematic drawing, pdb design, simulation...).
756.10/29/2007 6:37:00 PM1. integration of virtualization tools to support migrations 2. package demo desktop systems as VMware server (or equivalent freely available Windows-based) virtual machines (beats demo CDs for performance and dual-booting for flexibility)
757.10/29/2007 6:48:00 PMDesktop performance (or perhaps userspace performance in general) We should always look &amp; feel faster than windows &amp; OS X... for example, users won't understand that disk caches &amp; such spin up later program loads and score higher benchmarks, they'll understand that the first time the fire up an app, it's slow. This is very important to convince first-time adopters that they've made the right choice.
758.10/29/2007 9:39:00 PMsmart phone synchronization
759.10/29/2007 11:16:00 PMMore user-friendly to general users.
760.10/30/2007 1:57:00 AM* Support proprietary drivers for proprietary hardware. (The kernel has no stable kernel space API for device drivers. Yet now the kernel is to get userspace drivers while userspace is claimed to be a stable API! Neither open source nor proprietary drivers in user space will fix the hardware problems that include known bugs that are MANY YEARS old. User space is less attractive than kernel space for that sort of code. I don't have a linux desktop without serious driver issues. Desktop linux cannot succeed until hardware issues are fixed.) * Sane API changes. Morton and others rightly complains about kernel quality but why are features removed and userspace APIs changed in EVERY release? There is a feature removal schedule, why not use it? E.g. make 2.6.25/29/33 etc breakage releases, and make 2.6.24/28/32 etc long term support (like 2.6.16, though perhaps support for 2.6.24 would cease upon release of 2.6.32). Stability is not rocket surgery.
761.10/30/2007 2:49:00 AMWIFI!!! WIRELESS!!
762.10/30/2007 7:22:00 AMMarketing
763.10/30/2007 11:49:00 AMGuides to learning what directories house what types of files, what commands do, scenario based issues and resolutions eg &quot;Network card dies due to driver failure, Solution is:&quot;
764.10/30/2007 5:01:00 PM1 - Stable management tools. As clunky as linuxconf was, changing the GUI with every new distribution is even worse. Fragmentation between distros is worse. A point tool for every task is worse. Good is good enough. Constant change means I never got over the learning curve. 2 - Simplify the desktop configuration. Why do I need a PhD to add an item to the Applications menu.
765.10/30/2007 6:51:00 PMOracle jInitiator is a major concern for us.
766.10/30/2007 7:56:00 PMApplication compatibility/virtualization
767.10/30/2007 9:05:00 PMDevelopers, Developers, Developers, Developers!
768.10/30/2007 9:33:00 PMLower memory requirements, performance optimizations, CalDAV standards support for both client and server, PDF forms support in Evince
769.10/30/2007 9:51:00 PMGetting linux known out there.
770.10/31/2007 1:52:00 AMI must stress linux desktop standards... the foss community, while working nicely together, solves many of the same problems over and over again...
771.10/31/2007 2:59:00 AMEverything, hardware and software just needs to work. Without asking the user to research how to get it working then execute a string of system commands at a command prompt to get there.
772.10/31/2007 4:06:00 AMMake Exchange account work on Linux. Documents look the same at open office and in MS office.
773.10/31/2007 5:19:00 AMWine
774.10/31/2007 2:52:00 PMFocus on HOME USERS. If people use Linux at home, companies wouldn't hesitate to have employees use it at work. I could put Linux on desktops at work but I won't because there would be an uprising.
775.10/31/2007 6:38:00 PMSupport
776.10/31/2007 10:18:00 PMEngaging hardware companies to release drivers. Perhaps concentrating on 'wrapper' style drivers would be better. Or getting bigger Linux companies (Novell, IBM, Redhat) to sign agreements with specific hardware companies for &quot;Certified&quot; device support. This would encourage people to buy those devices.
777.11/1/2007 11:39:00 AMIntegrated GUI search facilities (accessable/configurable from file manager and other file manipulation tools).
778.11/1/2007 2:21:00 PMcompability with other platform and previous version of distro
779.11/1/2007 4:39:00 PMPeople see the desktop and they appear similar, but there is no standardization across distributions about how buttons react, where stuff gets installed, Administrator (sudo) trappings, etc. This gets to be a deterent to getting work done when more time is spent trying to figure out how to start an application than using it. And another thing: even most major Windows vendors realize that cryptic error messages are a negative reinforcement for continued success of their applications - linux developers still approach this with a hacker-like attitude (even if they don't come right out and say, &quot;RTFM!&quot;)
780.11/1/2007 6:25:00 PMLinux desktops generally look horrible. The entire look and feel needs to be modernised and refreshed, especially system and application fonts
781.11/2/2007 3:59:00 PMGETTING THE WORD OUT..... somehow...somewhere, the MONEY has to be found to get the word out, not on a &quot;one shot, boy isn't that neat that we DID an advertising.&quot; but daily, weekly information in the mainstream....putting &quot;a&quot; live cd distro in the big box stores.... WALMART...in the U.S. so people can buy it as an &quot;impulse&quot; purchase....WITH INSTRUCTIONS as to how to change the boot options to the cd first.... but that will never happen because of the infighting and competition within Linux...too many &quot;big personalities&quot; quibbeling over why &quot;this or that&quot; distro &quot;should be the one&quot;....while letting &quot;Rome burn&quot;.... Microsoft and Xandros(now Windows 2000 lite) will be the distro thaT.... the average person uses first....and then it is all over for Linux...Microsoft will have the people that used cracked copies or no computer at all, before, AND...the people that pay for XP or Vista.... Linux can do anything it wants &quot;inside itself&quot;, but if &quot;the world&quot; doesn't know about it...it is all a tempest in a teapot....and that fits the agenda of the folks that say...&quot;well it is about &quot;purity&quot;.... well, Microsoft and Xandros aren't about &quot;purity&quot;....they are about...MONEY.... It will take MONEY...to get &quot;a distro&quot; into the public eye...and it needs to be done NOW.... next year will be too late.
782.11/3/2007 7:35:00 PMPromotion of ODF and other open standards. Broader use of those would give Linux so much more power by freeing people from the MS lock.
783.11/4/2007 5:09:00 AMSupport for security card readers and desktop page scanners.
784.11/4/2007 7:56:00 AMI have a basic recommendation for you: I am using Fedora core 6 with Pentium 4, GNOME and KDE: 1) When I run some applications, they put their windows on top of the current window! and some of them open 15 windows with a variable delay, you are reading your pdf file, new windows pop up and disturb your concentration. Make it optinal, you did not see such a simple thing, you want to say that Linux is the best one possible!! I have 1000 other suggestions to improve Linux, do you want to hear them? or you just transfer me to a void chain of emails!!
785.11/4/2007 11:10:00 AMSpeech-to-text
786.11/4/2007 6:22:00 PMA uniform look to all the apps make them look alike and make them work together.
787.11/4/2007 6:25:00 PMsecurity
788.11/4/2007 9:30:00 PMLinux community has to start working with Fortune 500 companies to determine what the primary needs are. Direct contact with these organizations is key to any success!
789.11/5/2007 4:04:00 AMI started the first off-campus (Drexel) Linux users group from a Linux SIG at PACS (Philadelphia Area Computer Society) that I called PLUG (Philadelphia Linux Users Group) at an art gallery called HighWire with the help of the head of the Linux SIG at Drexel in 1994. Linux distros should combine efforts and put on demos every weekend at community centers and emphasize the concept of &quot;freedom&quot; and no cost to people with less than moderate means as well as middle income folks. TV and radio ads, local newspaper pieces and so on can keep the ball rolling. Speakers at local meeting places would be good. The most important thing though is apps like Dreamweaver and MS Publisher to make it easier for average folks to make a living using Linux and cheap, but great tech support. Forums are cool, but you can wait forever to get an answer for some things. We're all not geeks of nature - G-d bless 'em!
790.11/5/2007 6:35:00 AMOpen source media plugins for formats like Flash, PDF
791.11/5/2007 2:36:00 PMSecurity software eg many small applications used for banking and other on-line transactions
792.11/5/2007 11:38:00 PMGet commercial software producers to make a version of their product for Linux.
793.11/6/2007 3:45:00 AMDeveloping either a stable kernel API or, at the very least, a compat layer so device drivers are not as tightly coupled with the kernel. It would be up to to driver maintainer to keep up with whatever API changes are deemed necessary.
794.11/6/2007 5:52:00 PMForget Windows - Open Office and so on does more / better Simply make the missing tools, multimedia ( retail DVD play ) and so on
795.11/6/2007 9:27:00 PMThe linux community needs to be more united with the OpenBSD community in *DEMANDING* that hardware docs and specs be released. Code is not good enough.
796.11/6/2007 9:47:00 PMscanning, big scale printing (and scanning)
797.11/6/2007 10:47:00 PMBackup applications - see previous comments
798.11/6/2007 10:53:00 PMI play City of Heroes/City of Villains, World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Lord of the Rings Online and use Movavi Video Suite. If they would run natively on Ubuntu it would be fantastic and I could get rid of Windows. Also need drivers that are up-to-date and work for Creative X-Fi sound cards.
799.11/7/2007 5:47:00 AM-include clip art with OpenOffice -SOME kind of Visio compatibility (dia won't cut it) -Built in, bundling of pre-configured CrossOver Office/WINE for running things like Outlook &amp; Visio (for now)
800.11/7/2007 6:21:00 PMAn overall improvement of already existing applications should be maintained.
801.11/7/2007 7:29:00 PMOffice Suite and accounting software compatibility.
802.11/7/2007 8:19:00 PMSingle Sign-on with windows network
803.11/8/2007 12:48:00 AMMake it as easy and intuitive to understand, use and configure as Windows XP. In some areas Linux exceeds this by far (such as installation and procurement of software) but I neither need nor want several places to go to configure things. The Windows control panel and help system are excellent. I never want to have to open a terminal window unless I'm acting as a site wide engineer. Users should never have to see one.
804.11/10/2007 8:32:00 AMPolish and integration. Things like mounting windows shares should &quot;just work&quot;.
805.11/10/2007 5:05:00 PMWe need the major Adobe applications, fonts and Quark.
806.11/10/2007 7:11:00 PMApplications .. applications .. applications .. :-) Professional applications for Audio/Video editing, Animation and Visual Effects and web development.
807.11/10/2007 10:06:00 PMEasy to use security tools and technics.
808.11/12/2007 9:12:00 PMGetting Game Developers to release Linux clients.
809.11/14/2007 7:57:00 AMLinux as a community lacks someone who can do marketing for them.Someone who can outreach to SMBs and IT giants and convince them that transition from MS to linux is painless, smooth and is supported pretty well.
810.11/14/2007 11:05:00 AMMarketing! :)
811.11/15/2007 6:41:00 PMDesktop policy management, ldap directory integration.
812.11/16/2007 4:09:00 PMAUTOCAD/AUTODESK INVENTOR, or SOLIDWORKS, having to retrain my cad guy as well as my self to use VariCad was a pain, and i would love to have inventor back
813.11/19/2007 5:42:00 PMMarketing Linux to the masses so that people actually know it's available. Also convincing computer vendors to sell their computers with *any* linux distro INSTEAD of MS. Why can't they produce 1,000,000 machines and NOT install MS on, let's say, 25% of them? (I guess money and FUD talk real loud.)
814.11/19/2007 6:36:00 PMApplication development
815.11/19/2007 8:10:00 PMEase of use for a Windows user.
816.11/22/2007 7:19:00 AMConvincing vendors to port their applications to Linux, or developing tools to help them port their applications.
817.11/22/2007 10:54:00 AMIf there were quality games for Linux, I would give it 2 - 3 years and people would start using it more.
818.11/22/2007 11:55:00 AMwine development
819.11/22/2007 7:00:00 PMIn order to change from Windows to Linux there must be a reason. A key goal should be adding features that Windows not have to provide an incentive to switch. Human nature tends to resist change for change sake.
820.11/22/2007 8:03:00 PMMobile device syncing
821.11/22/2007 8:40:00 PMSyncing PDA's &amp; Smartphones
822.11/22/2007 9:09:00 PMStability.
823.11/22/2007 9:14:00 PMCAD/CAM software
824.11/22/2007 9:18:00 PMOur number one application that is needed for a Linux desktop environment is ESRI ArcGIS, followed by ERDAS Imagine and ENVI.
825.11/22/2007 9:24:00 PMSome of the major vendors need to make apps available for purchase.
826.11/22/2007 9:24:00 PMx86_64 application support (eg Skype, Flash in Firefox); printing in firefox
827.11/22/2007 9:27:00 PMLinux is ready right now, it is making sure that specific, non-portable apps can run on Linux. If Wine could run everything, our organization would switch almost everything right away. Though we would have to examine Open Directory's capabilities. We'd need an Active Directory replacement.
828.11/22/2007 9:29:00 PMWe need tools for animation, sound and video production. such as toonboom, flash, final cut clones
829.11/22/2007 9:35:00 PMa brand new car won't go anywhere with a flat tire, each part adds to the whole. I think the important thing is that competent people focus their efforts in areas where they are most skilled.
830.11/22/2007 9:40:00 PMI'm not answering this section because I have no idea.
831.11/22/2007 9:40:00 PMbugfixing desktop applications. Fit and finish.
832.11/22/2007 9:53:00 PMFriggin working intellisence!
833.11/22/2007 10:27:00 PMFor the business we do not need cutting edge features, especially not eye-candy. What we need is easy to use, reliable software that is as compatible with the standard Windows software as possible.
834.11/22/2007 10:29:00 PMGet suspend to work properly on all laptops. Get ATI graphics drivers for older cards.
835.11/22/2007 10:31:00 PMareas marked above as 'low priority' mainy work ok already
836.11/22/2007 10:36:00 PMGames and enabling game companies to create games more easily (if necessary)
837.11/22/2007 10:41:00 PMEvangelizing to Autodesk.
838.11/22/2007 10:42:00 PMGaming
839.11/22/2007 10:42:00 PMstandards adherence.
840.11/22/2007 10:45:00 PMProfessional audio applications, whether open or closed.
841.11/22/2007 10:47:00 PMGet wireless and the latest games working well on Linux, and home users will take it on. If people use Linux at home, they are more comfortable with it at work.
842.11/22/2007 10:48:00 PMWPA that is not so painful to implement. Fastrack Quickbooks and outlook client.
843.11/22/2007 10:49:00 PMContinue to improve VM (VirtualBox) for seamless integration of windows apps into a linux environment.
844.11/22/2007 10:51:00 PMGames, Windows emulation, Wine is getting very good!
845.11/22/2007 10:57:00 PMGames. DirectX 10 has basically been exposed as fraud, with the new OpenGL standard supporting all the fancy crap, so more companies now have more portable code. SDL+OpenGL+OpenAL is fairly widespread in the gaming industry, and the big names love open codecs. Some effort is needed to get more games on the distros, which will make people spend more time with Linux, and maybe request more software ports.
846.11/22/2007 11:00:00 PMAudio / Multimedia codec (legal)
847.11/22/2007 11:02:00 PMExposure! More people need to be made aware that there is an alternative that people are actually using so that software developers will move towards cross-platform development. Our biggest is government software that will not run on a linux desktop.
848.11/22/2007 11:03:00 PMBusiness Applications
849.11/22/2007 11:09:00 PMMake GUI nicer!
850.11/22/2007 11:10:00 PMIntegration with MS Exchange replacements as e.g Scalix
851.11/22/2007 11:12:00 PMImprove office-like packages. Journals demand Word documents, conferences demand Powerpoint slides. It's a showstopper. Simplify packaging so software houses can release one version for Linux (not RHEL, SLES, Debian, etc).
852.11/22/2007 11:18:00 PMVideo editing. When people talk about multimedia, they always seem to forget professional video. We have professional or near professional audio tools, but video editing applications on Linux are nowhere near what a professional needs. It seems to be the most neglected area of Linux development. The next stage in our business will be professional video/film production. Up until now the business has been 100% Linux (except for one test computer with Windows XP/2K on a dual boot), but when we move to video, we'll have to start using Macs because Linux just doesn't have good video editing programs. KDENlive looks like it could be good, but it is far from complete and there's been very little progress on it for the past year or two.
853.11/22/2007 11:19:00 PMimprove quality of WINE, to be able to run third party / legacy applications.
854.11/22/2007 11:28:00 PM(1) Evolution more robust connections to Outlook servers (2) Bibliography software (Bibus is pretty good) (3) Support for remote control of digital cameras (e.g. Canon Powershot A610) These are our current major obstacles.
855.11/22/2007 11:40:00 PMBetter QA is the top priority, to make sure whichever distribution is used works out of the box and does not require tweaking.
856.11/22/2007 11:42:00 PMMobile Devices Mobile Devices Mobile Devices. That is the only major snag.
857.11/22/2007 11:46:00 PM*User* documentation. Not just developer, but *USER* documentation. Makes a big difference to training costs!
858.11/22/2007 11:47:00 PMSeamless integration into Active Directory and Exchange (two of the nastiest things ever unleashed on the planet).
859.11/22/2007 11:59:00 PMMany &quot;lower priority&quot; items are already done well.
860.11/23/2007 12:00:00 AMLaptop support (powermanagement and tablet functions)
861.11/23/2007 12:05:00 AMMulti-language network support. Samba is currently broken on a multi-language Windows network.
862.11/23/2007 12:19:00 AMModern distributions are very good, and it seems to me that at this point, adoption will create further adoption. The only way to speed it up is by providing an easy means for DX10 games to somehow work for the home audience, and for the adobe suite to work for the professional audience. Everything else already works quite well already.
863.11/23/2007 12:20:00 AMImproving &quot;partially supported&quot; hardware, rather than providing partial support for more hardware. Yes, the hardware manufacturers could help with this, and I let them know that very often.
864.11/23/2007 12:24:00 AMExchange replacement.
865.11/23/2007 12:26:00 AMthin-client
866.11/23/2007 12:32:00 AMThey're all important. I marked the laptop-specific ones as top priority, and &quot;integration of desktop capabilities&quot; as lower because I have no idea what the hell it means.
867.11/23/2007 12:48:00 AMmaybe more useful for business'/school than home users but an easy way to create very limited user accounts, perhaps a number of different user profiles (power user, ..., web browser).
868.11/23/2007 1:17:00 AMMedia Editors for formats like flash plz
869.11/23/2007 1:34:00 AMencourage/help game developers ie. Eve Online
870.11/23/2007 1:35:00 AMOf all top specified, wireless is appaling still (Broadcom I'm looking at you), printing is a disaster (CUPS is beyond most of our tech support). Multimedia is still an issue based on Windows/Flash.
871.11/23/2007 1:36:00 AMReplacing commonly used Microsoft applications
872.11/23/2007 1:52:00 AMActive Directory support.
873.11/23/2007 1:53:00 AMDeveloping efforts so that proprietary applications are no longer needed.
874.11/23/2007 2:00:00 AMTopmost: An Active Directory equivalent, for management, which can include both Windows and Linux desktops.
875.11/23/2007 2:06:00 AMIndustrial Protocol Support (Rockwell&#180;s Ethernet/IP, Siemens Simatic/NET, and similar) OPC (OLE for Process Control) in Samba
876.11/23/2007 2:11:00 AMImproving Lazarus and Java/Jython support
877.11/23/2007 2:15:00 AMPrinters and wireless drivers continue to plague us. Personally neither sound nor wireless works on my Dell laptop. Both worked on my old 700 Mhz P3 HP laptop. Unfortunately this is typical. :(
878.11/23/2007 3:06:00 AMVideo Games
879.11/23/2007 3:17:00 AMSupport for Windows applications and Windows domain services such as Active Directory.
880.11/23/2007 3:22:00 AMInstall Managers for non-Synaptic (as an example on our Unbuntu system), programs. Installing third party programs is way to challenging and often is still full of mistakes.
881.11/23/2007 3:30:00 AMNeed accounting solutions.
882.11/23/2007 3:56:00 AMDRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS ... Open source drivers are always preferred but effort needs to be made to get companies to offer Linux drivers for their hardware. Any steps towards making that happen is a plus, even if it inevitably means that some companies will offer closed source drivers. This is why user space drivers in the kernel is a nice step forward and making it easy for end users to install 3rd party drivers in a standard and consistent manner is essential. Enough shell scripts and custom ncurses applications. We need a &quot;driver manager&quot; similar to our package managers.
883.11/23/2007 3:57:00 AMFinancial software.
884.11/23/2007 4:12:00 AMscanners and OCR
885.11/23/2007 4:56:00 AMProper DVD support, I run a Windows dual boot on my personal computer because it plays DVDs without the player crashing while playing DVDs
886.11/23/2007 5:06:00 AMlaptop support, WINE, video codecs and browser plugins, more graphical frontends for applications, file crypto
887.11/23/2007 5:11:00 AMEducation / Advertisement that the general public (not just us geeks) will see.
888.11/23/2007 5:21:00 AMWeather or not the sourcecode of drivers is available is secondary to the drivers being available at all.
889.11/23/2007 5:22:00 AMUsability of configuration. Shouldn't need to ever edit a text file to configure Linux. Everything should have a GUI
890.11/23/2007 5:33:00 AMNeed outlook replacement that can run native on Linux and can connect to MS Exchange environment. Evolution is close, but not close enough. This is the number 1 problem we have in our linux desktop environment.
891.11/23/2007 5:52:00 AMEase of Use for non-geeks! During installation, offer a choice of distro security settings concerning Permissions: High for people in the CIA and FBI. Medium for Professionals and Corporations. Low for the average Joe that is Not Worried about security.
892.11/23/2007 5:56:00 AMonfiguration Documentation
893.11/23/2007 6:34:00 AMInter-application integration. Work on the backends between applications has been done, but the abilities provided by this must now be implemented in the UI level. This is a strong point for Windows, because all applications have been pre-developed to get stuff from each other. When the Linux desktop has these, and even so much that Gnome apps can talk to KDE apps, WITHOUT bugs, we will have a major point of advancement to build upon for a corporate desktop environment.
894.11/23/2007 6:34:00 AMTop Priority should be given to providing documentation that is easy ot understand for the average Windows user. More training resources, or perhaps better promotion of training resources would be helpful.
895.11/23/2007 7:01:00 AMGroup calendar suite to replace FUBAR Exchange lockin.
896.11/23/2007 7:39:00 AMGetting all software patents invalidated.
897.11/23/2007 8:31:00 AMGaming
898.11/23/2007 9:08:00 AMVisibility/Image. Linux not only needs to be present in the minds of consumers, but to be seen as an easy to use and viable option.
899.11/23/2007 9:40:00 AMavailablity (even if at a nominal cost) of educational softwares specifically for engineering usage (say, like simulators used in chemical and electronics domain or MatLab or graph drawing tools or database management or spreadsheet tools like Excel) would go a long way for official adoption of Linux as THE OS of choice by administration; and similarly by students as a welcome change for desktop use on personal machines.
900.11/23/2007 9:47:00 AMAlternative (and file format-compatible) replacements for viso, access, and project are a major issue right now.
901.11/23/2007 9:48:00 AMLinux desktop standards (cross-window-manager) (eg: gnome and kde)
902.11/23/2007 9:54:00 AMDrivers are wery important!
903.11/23/2007 10:06:00 AMSynchronization with mobile devices
904.11/23/2007 10:08:00 AMGetting apps that only work on Windows, run reliably on Linux. Ie. put a big boost into WINE or some alternative to that.
905.11/23/2007 10:23:00 AMX11 is ugly, the major environments built on top of it trade-offs: Gnome is nicer looking than KDE, but less functional. An attractive interface is important for something that you expect people to spend hours staring at every day.
906.11/23/2007 10:24:00 AMTo win &quot;Average Joe&quot;, ease off use, support for DirectX and MS Office documents is a must have.
907.11/23/2007 10:37:00 AM1)ability to in loading Gnu/Linux always select MS Windows as the default system with Linux as a boot choice. The normal method of setting Linux as default; prevents/scares many companies form trying Linux. Always in loading systems give option to retain and use MS Windows as default system. AllLinux experienced uses know how tochangeGRUBtosetLinuxas default. &quot;Newbiess&quot; do not and are scared to try because of wiping out existing MS Windows system when they try. Thispointhas stopped me loading Linux onto smallcompany computers whenIexplain thatif they reload (whenIam notthere0 theywilloverwrite existing Windows. ( SuSE at least gives this choice, or setable in Yast, Ubunto does not - dirty &quot;GRUB&quot; editing necessary.
908.11/23/2007 10:58:00 AMAccessibility
909.11/23/2007 11:15:00 AMACL integrated to enable painfree integration/browsing of MS domains
910.11/23/2007 11:29:00 AMLess buzzwords - &quot;Cross-desktop environment tools, services and interfaces&quot; is utterly devoid of meaning.
911.11/23/2007 11:31:00 AMReplace GPL with a free license.
912.11/23/2007 11:37:00 AM.NET support
913.11/23/2007 11:47:00 AMBusiness management software (ie financial accounting) for small businesses
914.11/23/2007 11:50:00 AMApplying pressure to vendors that only supply Windows clients to provide native Linux versions.
915.11/23/2007 11:51:00 AMNot a problem for me, but for getting into other businesses: good interoperation with MS Exchange groupware, with Linux both as a client (desktop) and on the server. A free 'product' is needed. This is the absolute number 1, more important than all the others.
916.11/23/2007 11:52:00 AMMerge patches upstream. Many distros fix bugs or even change behaviors of top used applications to fit their needs locally never alarming the authors. This leads to a situation, where for example evolution or other critical software behaves a little different in every disro.
917.11/23/2007 12:04:00 PMOpen source replacement for outlook
918.11/23/2007 12:07:00 PMNo place for comments? How could you have left Financial Services out of the company types? Every investment bank in the world uses Linux on servers; this would be a great target audience for Linux on desktops.
919.11/23/2007 12:10:00 PMStandards in general are very important, i.e. web standards.
920.11/23/2007 12:42:00 PMMake common users (web+email-users) want to try Linux.
921.11/23/2007 12:43:00 PMMain problems I've had have been with ACPI, graphics drivers and printers.
922.11/23/2007 12:50:00 PMStability of Linux + Apps. E.g Upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to next should always work and not damage the current installation. Windows intergration - Setting up Samba can be a real pain. GUI Stability - If things go wrong have a fall back to a 'safe' GUI session. Knowing all the necessary commands to fix drivers/config files is beyond many. P.S Survey should make a clear distinction between personal and corparate use. The needs of these groups may be quite different.
923.11/23/2007 12:59:00 PMInformation on the long term benefits of open source.
924.11/23/2007 1:00:00 PMMake more software vendors offer licensed products on Linux (e.g. Photoshop).
925.11/23/2007 1:15:00 PMGroupware applications
926.11/23/2007 1:23:00 PMOpenOffice compatibility and bugs
927.11/23/2007 1:46:00 PMdrivers for data acquisition cards and framegrabbers
928.11/23/2007 1:55:00 PMSmartphone Syncing
929.11/23/2007 2:04:00 PMGames
930.11/23/2007 2:10:00 PMPackage updates need to have local availability options (i.e. need to have ability to have local mirrors to save external bandwidth). This might already be an option, but I haven't seen it publicised. Size of updates in linux seems enormous. 100+ clients updating over the web is a significant drain.
931.11/23/2007 2:12:00 PMOSS Central software management and configuration
932.11/23/2007 2:18:00 PMFonts don't look as good as they do in Windows.
933.11/23/2007 2:22:00 PMColour management
934.11/23/2007 2:34:00 PMUI compatibility in applications, to ease the transition for users those with years/decades of Windows experience, people who use computers to do things, not people who are computer/Linux lovers.
935.11/23/2007 2:36:00 PMEase of use in setting up read/write access across Samba shares.
936.11/23/2007 2:37:00 PMUnder no circumstances our organization hopes for concentration on cross-desktop environments if this entails cross-operating systems. There is no middle ground for us: it is either 100 % Linux or it is 100 % Microsoft.
937.11/23/2007 2:51:00 PMBrowser plug-ins
938.11/23/2007 2:53:00 PMBrowser plugins
939.11/23/2007 2:54:00 PMGPL competitive game development kits
940.11/23/2007 3:02:00 PMCompatibility layers ie WINE, virtualisation, and file systems(ntfs)
941.11/23/2007 3:03:00 PMLinux Desktop needs to get close to &quot;polish&quot; of OS X Aqua environment to give cause for change to some users.
942.11/23/2007 3:04:00 PMJust to reiterate: How many ways of installing and configuring SW and drivers for installed HW does an OS need? Stop reinventing the wheel! It would be so refreshing if the Linux development community could agree on at least one thing.
943.11/23/2007 3:05:00 PMDriver support is the single biggest area, follwed by USER documentation. File sharing among home networks between Linux boxes and Windows needs to be made a bit easier for the home user. (read: monkey proof)
944.11/23/2007 3:11:00 PMSystems management with a GUI!!!!
945.11/23/2007 3:23:00 PMChanging attitudes in IT departments, and combatting uptake of Microsoft Sharepoint which ties in use of Microsoft Office on desktop.
946.11/23/2007 3:49:00 PMInstallation, that asks for proprietary drivers for hardware nut support in the release natively, e.g. Nvidia 8600GTS
947.11/23/2007 3:51:00 PMOpen source drivers for proprietary hardware are not top priority to be 'open', more the case of them to exist. Open is preferable but in the field of wireless drivers especially, we would settle for highly fault tolerant closed wireless drivers, with all the security bells and whistles.
948.11/23/2007 3:58:00 PMGames - they have always been the killer-app for home PCs and once Linux wins hearts and minds in the home people will be much happier using it at work.
949.11/23/2007 4:03:00 PMThink big, think midterm-longterm! The key for massive Linux adoption is: GAMES! If Linux could run all games that are available for Windows with equal performance and various native Windows applications, then parents will choose Linux to save the money of the operating system, so the parents and more importantly, the children!, will know Linux and will get used to it; when they grow up, their natural choice for their work will be Linux, and they will become technicians, entrepreneurs, decision makers, business owners, etc.. Having all the games and some penetration on schools is the key. So, Wine is the key at first together with a good assortment of native applications (email, browser, office, IM, multimedia, device drivers, etc., we have these sorted out already). After the Windows replacement-ability people will just forget Windows and developers will natively develop for Linux. Businesses need the Windows compatibility too, for custom applications that they already have, or applications that are too specialized and will not be native Linux applications any time soon.
950.11/23/2007 4:07:00 PMI will say it again, small busness, I talk to plenty of freelancers that cany have a solo linux box becasue of money management
951.11/23/2007 4:13:00 PMuser interface
952.11/23/2007 4:14:00 PMMany printers work, but not all have full functionality.
953.11/23/2007 4:15:00 PMSeat/user management &amp; deployment across the enterprise
954.11/23/2007 4:28:00 PMMore work with products such as Crossover and Wine in order to easily allow &quot;Windows Only&quot; software, e.g. all versions of office, run effiecintly on linux
955.11/23/2007 4:43:00 PMWe bought some lovely new ThinkPads with high resolution screens. This means that the default text size (KDE on Debian) is too small to be comfortably readable by our older members of staff. Given we use KDE and GNOME apps as well as things like OpenOffice.org and Firefox which have thier own font settings, and basic X apps, like X terms; basic things like changing the font size become excessively convoluted.
956.11/23/2007 4:46:00 PMCentralized desktop management would be great; being able to remotely manage machines in bulk is the one advantage that I will gladly attribute to Windows. Linux really needs this.
957.11/23/2007 4:55:00 PMIntegration with and smooth operation with the Windows world (servers and desktops) will be critical for the near future.
958.11/23/2007 5:07:00 PMDeveloper documentation were tools given a lower priority as there is a good offering out there already, though they should continue to be maintained. Overall the linux killers in many offices are small/medium business accounting packages, MS exchange support in mailing/calendar apps, and a drop-in replacement for MS Office (Open Office doesn't seem to cut it).
959.11/23/2007 5:08:00 PMgaming, legal codecs for dvd/mp3, significantly larger effort to advertise linux to the masses.
960.11/23/2007 5:10:00 PMBetter drivers for older hardware that never got decent drivers or that have degraded over time.
961.11/23/2007 5:12:00 PMEncourage software companies to promote more multi-platform programs - regardless of open-source/closed-source status of software.
962.11/23/2007 5:21:00 PMSome level of hand-holding for the underlings (e.g. well-explained GUI configuration tools that handle more tasks), some means of making the look and feel between desktop environments more consistent (e.g. better cross-DE themes).
963.11/23/2007 5:38:00 PMimproved LAPTOP SUPPORT including advanced options like finger print scanners, integrated webcams, shock detection, etc.
964.11/23/2007 5:38:00 PMRemoteDesktop, SAMBA printing and (USB)printer drivers
965.11/23/2007 6:03:00 PMDrivers, Drivers, Drivers...
966.11/23/2007 6:10:00 PMMake a new filesystem for Linux that can both READ AND WRITE to windows filesystems, so that u can migrate more easily.
967.11/23/2007 6:15:00 PMI picked the items important to our organization. This is not to say that the other items are not important to other users and organizations.
968.11/23/2007 6:16:00 PMVideo editing and production
969.11/23/2007 6:16:00 PMAdobe Flash support. This is a show stopper on some graphics cards.
970.11/23/2007 6:38:00 PMoverall performance
971.11/23/2007 7:00:00 PMOne Letter: X
972.11/23/2007 7:03:00 PMAdobe photoshop!
973.11/23/2007 7:04:00 PMAccessibility options for those who can not type.
974.11/23/2007 7:05:00 PMremote assistance and management applications.
975.11/23/2007 7:24:00 PMTAX SOFTWARE.
976.11/23/2007 7:25:00 PMconsistent packaging of applications across distributions; standardization of configuration file locations and names across distributions -- too often support is on forums, and you can't find an exact match between your issue / your distribution and a well thought through fix from users...
977.11/23/2007 7:28:00 PMGaming is important to help expand the platform, and there is a MAJOR LACKING of heavy weight dak cad and vector graphics
978.11/23/2007 7:33:00 PMMost of the categories are already being address, would like to see development pace pick up. We are already supporting this.
979.11/23/2007 8:09:00 PMSimple single sign on
980.11/23/2007 8:35:00 PMDirect X Compatibilitys.
981.11/23/2007 8:42:00 PMGetting MONO more robust than it is in some areas of the .NET spec
982.11/23/2007 8:43:00 PMGood, open source CAD software.
983.11/23/2007 9:54:00 PMThe existence of high-performining Linux multiprocessor servers is driving much of our Linux purchasing, and hence, driving much of our staff's exposure to Linux. The other driver is our designing Linux into embedded devices. Linux on the desktop is done by personal choice, but the two drivers I just mentioned, create a more favorable climite.
984.11/23/2007 10:38:00 PMA driver control panel that can tell what hardware has no drivers installed (because none were available during install), and which hardware cannot even be identified.
985.11/23/2007 11:48:00 PMMultmedia on linux sucks! use preinstalled dvddecoder! Not everyone know how to install libdvdcss or WHERE to find it! And for god sake - MAKE HIGH QUALITY games for LINUX - not games for ONLY children!
986.11/24/2007 12:04:00 AMA cross-distro compatible software management system is critical (more than just application packaging) Improved support for games won't help business uptake, but will significantly increase home use of Linux for the desktop.
987.11/24/2007 12:25:00 AMConcentrate on some of the core desktop uses needed, things such as syncing a PDA in linux is a nightmare and hampers uptake. Streamline the every day stuff.
988.11/24/2007 1:14:00 AMVideo game support.
989.11/24/2007 1:14:00 AMGetting well known games ported to Linux will help (sadly :) ). An agreed common install system.
990.11/24/2007 2:04:00 AMneeds to be more plug and play I shouldn't have to EVER edit a text file better printer setup support and improved multihead config support would be nice
991.11/24/2007 2:19:00 AMBetter tools to support interop with Windows environments and Windows based software, application streaming
992.11/24/2007 3:03:00 AMNeed trouble shooting sequences usable by end users to isolate failures. For instance: new laptop, trash Vista, install Linux, sound fails. lcpci shows hardware ready, driver installed, volumn control keys work, system beep works, no other sound, no system failure dialogs. How to trouble shoot lack of application sound? Google seems not to have answer.
993.11/24/2007 3:08:00 AMMy idea is to promote a new standard packaging format that could be made compatible existing package managers, since simply forcing the Debian community to abandon their packaging system is IMHO rather stupid. Maybe this would make creation/porting of commercial software more appealing, since the cost and effort of packing for example Adobe Photoshop in several different formats (.deb .rpm .tgz) may outweigh the profit. Bottom line: The Linux Standard Base project is the way to go, but don't forget steady old Debian.
994.11/24/2007 3:51:00 AMAll of the Linux developers are doing a GREAT job!
995.11/24/2007 5:47:00 AMwireless support
996.11/24/2007 6:58:00 AMautocad, adobe, remote control support, quicken replacements and itunes are consistent barriers to adoption.
997.11/24/2007 8:52:00 AMclustering!
998.11/24/2007 9:15:00 AMSupport for Visio file format
999.11/24/2007 10:19:00 AMSome OpenOffice sanity from IBM and Novell.
1000.11/24/2007 10:26:00 AMAccurate / up to date documentation. e.g Ubuntu Feisty Fawn WPA setup help completely wrong. Spent 4 hours trying things before finding on the net that all one had to do was right click the wireless network detected icon and choose WPA.
1001.11/24/2007 11:47:00 AMHome theatre PCs, maybe even support all hardware in PS3
1002.11/24/2007 12:04:00 PM1-Encourage game producers to make there games available on Linux. 2-Develop new and improved multimedia codecs and format converters. 3-Making the voice &amp; video messaging available in pidgin is very important .
1003.11/24/2007 1:43:00 PMGUI based control over security features, integration of SE Linux with windowing, Security Lockdown tools that let an admin control all features presented to an end user, and Active Directory based configuration for Enterprise rollout.
1004.11/24/2007 2:28:00 PMConvince Adobe to port the child-important browser plugin Shockwave.
1005.11/24/2007 3:06:00 PMMore embedded device support with real linux, not just a linux kernel and a few device specific apps.
1006.11/24/2007 3:22:00 PMPackaging and making it &quot;look like&quot; the commercial stuff.
1007.11/24/2007 3:45:00 PMEasier access to other partitions e.g. NTFS and FAT 32 to allow easier migration and dual booting.
1008.11/24/2007 4:37:00 PMdatabase development and RDBMS application integration for the major players. SAP and Oracle.
1009.11/24/2007 5:31:00 PMCAD/CAM/CAE
1010.11/24/2007 5:59:00 PMGroup calendering
1011.11/24/2007 6:56:00 PMGet top software vendors to port their products to Linux (i.e Adobe Photoshop, Broderbund, etc.)
1012.11/24/2007 7:13:00 PMI think wine is important, in most cases I use the linux equivalents however to achieve more uptake of linux with younger people linux needs to be able to play windows directx games flawlessly.
1013.11/24/2007 7:18:00 PMWays of dealing with proprietary apps - wine, virtualisation etc
1014.11/24/2007 8:04:00 PMClosed source drivers
1015.11/24/2007 8:51:00 PMAttracting proprietary software vendors (e.g. games vendors) to port software to Linux. This could be done by offering them a stronger foundation of expected shared libraries -- e.g. with a more broadly supported and faster-moving Linux Standards Base.
1016.11/24/2007 9:11:00 PMOne of the areas I would put a TOP priority on is making the kernel configuration automated.
1017.11/24/2007 10:45:00 PMreplacement for ms access
1018.11/24/2007 10:48:00 PMSoftware compatibility
1019.11/24/2007 11:41:00 PMlobby government and large businesses, stop schools switching away from RiscOS and MacOS to Windows. let the children grow up with Edubuntu!
1020.11/25/2007 12:14:00 AMGroupware, groupware and more groupware!
1021.11/25/2007 1:21:00 AMthe ability to run games would be the final nail in the Microsoft coffin. Only reason I wtill run windows at work is to play games (COD4/TF2/Others) during downtime.
1022.11/25/2007 2:34:00 AMI need the confidence that I can use DOC XLS etc reliably! I believe I can't because they are secret formats only known to Microsoft. I'd use ODF but Microsoft users wouldn't be able to work on them.
1023.11/25/2007 3:38:00 AMBUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1024.11/25/2007 4:31:00 AMVPN clients for commercial firewalls, eg Watchguard, Netscreen, Juniper
1025.11/25/2007 5:43:00 AMscanners, Cannon LiDE 80, in particular
1026.11/25/2007 6:19:00 AMTop priority should be marketing in order to change thinking about what Linux is.
1027.11/25/2007 8:23:00 AMVideo editing, file manager with &quot;compact list view&quot; feature similar to Ms Windows, add new features to instant messenger like photo sharing, audio chat, webcam, standardize a cross Linux distro package manager.
1028.11/25/2007 11:01:00 AMPre-installed and unbundled from OS hardware, Improved peripherals esp multifunction printers
1029.11/25/2007 11:38:00 AMHardware compatibilty.
1030.11/25/2007 12:39:00 PMStability
1031.11/25/2007 3:02:00 PMThe LF should stop concentrating on &quot;focus(ing) efforts... to speed adoption of Linux on the desktop.&quot; What you have now is just what WinXP RTM was; an overly helpfull OS that is unreliable (the desktop layer; eg. UBUNTU on Debian), with drivers and software that look the part, but are also incomplete feature-wise and unreliable. I'd rather have a bullet-proof a OS and software suite I have to run from the console, than a pretty GUI that I can't count on.
1032.11/25/2007 3:45:00 PMGPIB
1033.11/25/2007 3:46:00 PMFOSS / interoperable counterparts of the proprietary solutions.
1034.11/25/2007 4:33:00 PMData Card and USB Modems from for people that need to access the internet on the move.
1035.11/25/2007 5:45:00 PMAgain, get those brand name prop. video drivers ready in ALL linux distros because this is where(only at present) the average Home user becomes initially irritated with linux. They can't get those Nvidia drivers to work in 3D.
1036.11/25/2007 8:31:00 PMNew linux developers take a much longer time to get &quot;set up&quot; in Linux than they do in Visual Studio. There should be some serious push towards making gui applications easier to develop and better documentation. It's very hard to get professional windows developers up to speed on linux gui development.
1037.11/25/2007 9:32:00 PMCross-distro standardization is critical for mass adoption. Linux is to fractionalized and splintered we need to unite and focus.
1038.11/25/2007 10:24:00 PMGroupware PIM, - shared calendars, Contacts, email, etc
1039.11/25/2007 11:10:00 PMquality iphoto or wmce-type photo browser/player.
1040.11/26/2007 2:15:00 AMOOXML
1041.11/26/2007 2:23:00 AMWhen I look at the Windows world and the Linux world. I see that its easier for Windows developers to get up to speed and Linux developers. There is very little training and documentation for a Linux developer who would like to write a GTK or QT application. In the Windows world, the documentation is often &quot;prepared in advance&quot; so that its ready when the language or toolkit is ready. The tools are all there, but there needs to be organizations to support developers more than end users.
1042.11/26/2007 8:21:00 AM64-bit support (especially a Java browser plug-in).
1043.11/26/2007 8:43:00 AMA one great repository for Linux information. That is supported by all Linux vendors. With both contribution's to the knowledge base and tech support people to help with questions. One of the biggest problems to Linux adoption is timely support for everyday users that don't have service contracts. Just posting questions on a website for a newbe is just not a good approach for Linux adoption.
1044.11/26/2007 9:58:00 AMEvangelism / marketing
1045.11/26/2007 10:39:00 AMProvision of GUI configuration for all aspects of system administration. Alleviation of software installation dependancy 'hell' and simplified (ala Windows) installation.
1046.11/26/2007 11:54:00 AMwebcams and cameras driver support
1047.11/26/2007 2:50:00 PM- Voice recognition software
1048.11/26/2007 3:25:00 PMThere needs to be some ACPI standard put in place by hardware vendors !!
1049.11/26/2007 4:06:00 PMas the end user all areas are top priority for me
1050.11/26/2007 4:27:00 PMWe need installation routine standards for all distros. Of course gaming on linux is a huge problem because that is what will draw a large section of the technical market.
1051.11/26/2007 4:32:00 PMMS Office macro converter...better support of windows applications through open source (wine).
1052.11/26/2007 4:55:00 PMFor linux to truly replace windows as a desktop alternative, legacy hardware must be supported (tv tuner cards, printers, old video chipsets, etc..)
1053.11/26/2007 5:21:00 PMImprovement of OpenOffice and ODF Open Document Format.
1054.11/26/2007 6:48:00 PMLonger OS supported life. Linux needs an OS that is supported for 7-10 years from its release similar to MS 2000 or MS Windows XP.
1055.11/26/2007 7:04:00 PMTools for menu and icon management for multiple users on shared/computing lab computers
1056.11/26/2007 7:09:00 PMBrowser plugins
1057.11/26/2007 7:37:00 PMWindows / Linux network sharing is an over complicated pain in the arse, sort out Samba so it just works without needing hours of frustration just to share a folder on an internal network. I HATE SAMBA!!! its the main reason I do not use Linux on more than one machine lol lol
1058.11/26/2007 8:24:00 PMPutting pressure to companies such as Intuit and Adobe to release Linux versions. I don't mind paying for licensing as long as the programs are available.
1059.11/26/2007 8:35:00 PMSupport for Windows applications (wine)
1060.11/26/2007 9:27:00 PMsmartphone (COMPLETE) sync support, this sucks from where i sit.
1061.11/27/2007 2:55:00 AMPC Games
1062.11/27/2007 4:01:00 AMLonger distribution life. 6mo between new versions is too short a time. Software released with too many bugs.
1063.11/27/2007 6:14:00 AMVideo editing...
1064.11/27/2007 6:16:00 AMFilesystem capabilities
1065.11/27/2007 7:49:00 AMWine must work better! Gaming.
1066.11/27/2007 8:59:00 AMSoftware development tools and support for databases like oracle,sql server,Visual studio,dotnet framework,seamless support for installation and working with windows based software and use ms based formats like new DOCX,MHTML,DOC etc
1067.11/27/2007 10:53:00 AMMake wine work properly with a wider range of apps.
1068.11/27/2007 1:43:00 PMgraphic design
1069.11/27/2007 6:18:00 PMHonest evangelism. We need honest, practical, advocates, who are also not afraid to admit that Linux isn't perfect and needs improvements in some areas. They need to help keep the development communities and &quot;Joe user&quot; (like me) in tune with each other, as well as generating realistic excitement for Linux.
1070.11/27/2007 6:27:00 PMMore computers in stores showing Linux to new buyers.
1071.11/27/2007 11:32:00 PMI think we need an educational campaign to inform manufacturers that not everyone uses Windows or Macs, and they really need to think about customers with Linux machines. I am talking about the hand-held GPS receiver I have with a USB connection that refuses to talk to my Ubuntu desktop. The same is true of my personal music player. Both companies assume I am using Windows, but they condescendingly add a few footnotes about Mac OSX, but there is nothing about Linux support for their products that have USB ports. My computer has some USB 2 ports, but neither my GPS nor my music player appear when I connect them, and the makers offer zero assistance on their web sites, with no way to bring up the question of USB support for Linux. They obviously are using proprietary file formats and haven't shared their file structure information with anyone in the Ubuntu Linux community.
1072.11/28/2007 2:29:00 AMUser friendly (noob) software.
1073.11/28/2007 4:56:00 AMIdeally, and this should be the &quot;holy grail&quot; of Linux Distro's, a user's experience in Linux should involve as much CLI as a typical Windows Session, and they should be able to accomplish as much. That's one thing that would help us to switch. There should be a greater focus on the &quot;user experience&quot;, and distributors should start realizing that 90% of the end users out there not only don't NEED httpd running, but wouldn't even KNOW if they did. The gOS was a step in the right direction, albeit a bit rough. Linux is very strong, it just needs to learn some manners and learn how to play nice with others.
1074.11/28/2007 6:36:00 AMNumber ONE priority is availability of COMMERCIAL software: MS Office, AutoCAD, PhotoShop, etc.
1075.11/28/2007 8:22:00 AM.Net support
1076.11/28/2007 2:17:00 PMIt's all about the applications. Provide a single target for application development. Make the user experience (including pre-installation and application installation) simple. Let the developers (e.g., documentation, development tools) fend for themselves: Linux already caters to them.
1077.11/28/2007 6:10:00 PMgames, for home users
1078.11/28/2007 10:11:00 PM* More and more standardisation! Go Freedesktop.org! * We absolutely need a common/standard way to install third party (or non packaged) applications (maybe like MacOSX does)
1079.11/28/2007 10:22:00 PMMore cad application support. Open source Plant Design Management and ERP solution.
1080.11/29/2007 12:32:00 AMNot sure why you have questions about packaging. We use &amp; love RPMs &amp; YUM. Life is good!
1081.11/29/2007 2:05:00 AMI can see Open Source's point of free software but cannot justify them until they start creating drivers and whatnot to replace what Microsoft operating systems have for their users thus creating major problems getting users to switch over when a lot of Linux distros do not support a lot of functions available within the Windows complex.
1082.11/29/2007 2:35:00 AM- 3D Effects (such as Compiz Fusion) - Improved virtualization / emulation for running Windows OS / Apps - Simplified patch management: Don't ask if they want to apply a patch...ask what skill level they are: Beginner (Just go ahead &amp; patch), Intermediate (Patch but provide an explanation of what's going on), Expert (Don't patch without users consent)
1083.11/29/2007 3:11:00 AMTechnical support for desktop users.
1084.11/29/2007 3:23:00 AMgames
1085.11/29/2007 3:41:00 AMMore GUIs for those who seem to be unable to do without
1086.11/29/2007 3:44:00 AM1. lacking peripheral support: binary-only drivers (e.g. ATI/nVidia video cards), or no drivers available at all (fair amount of printers &amp; scanners). Supposedly, there has been a breakthrough with ATI - but only for their latest generation of products; their older products still need either a binary driver or a feature-incomplete reverse-engineered driver. Open wifi drivers have made a tremendous improvement. 2. Poor high-end application variety. For example, Gimp is a fine program, but it is too rough around the edges for professional use. One particular example, Gimp's support for drawing tablets is inadequate, compared to Photoshop or OpenCanvas. At the same time, the high-end commercial applications (ones just mentioned) are not very well supported.
1087.11/29/2007 3:50:00 AMstability and usability. All major linux desktops suffer from lack of stability/usability and QA.
1088.11/29/2007 4:27:00 AMIncrease feature depth of current top apps.
1089.11/29/2007 8:33:00 AMUsability should be focussed a lot.. User Responsiveness.. End user experience oriented development of linux
1090.11/29/2007 11:53:00 AMagain, Adobe products, Autodesk products are important as well.
1091.11/29/2007 12:28:00 PMBusiness-specific applications
1092.11/29/2007 12:46:00 PMIf someone were to say 'buy a Dell this or an HP that and not only will all the peripherals work (wireless, accel video, sound, card reader,...) but they will carry on working in future releases of our distro for x years, that would be attractive.
1093.11/29/2007 1:00:00 PMEvery desktop ends up with some application that isn't in a package and requires manual configuration and work-arounds. A good example is TeX Live, which is widely used, but most users will have some specialized apps.
1094.11/29/2007 2:48:00 PMSimplify end user documentation for first-time users. Currently, I only trust my Windows power-users with Linux...maybe I'm paranoid.
1095.11/29/2007 3:14:00 PMCODECS, CODECS, CODECS... :-(
1096.11/29/2007 4:04:00 PMmost IT people give up when drivers are a problem, esp. when hardware vendors won't support linux (the biggest problem in this department is with wireless cards)
1097.11/29/2007 7:00:00 PMMarketing Games Accounting and Office/Comapny management systems
1098.11/29/2007 8:10:00 PMnetworking
1099.11/29/2007 9:28:00 PManything to make it easier to install and uninstall software for the common person, better advertisement. I personally think linux is a much more stable operating sys than anything microsoft has put out other than dos. I would like to see linux software on shelves of major stores (best buy circuit city, etc.).
1100.11/29/2007 11:49:00 PMCommercial products made for the Linux platform.
1101.11/30/2007 6:22:00 AMCOMMON DIRECTORY STRUCTURE!!!! COMMON INSTALLATION STRUCTURE!!!! We're killing &quot;Polite Society&quot; with all of the scattering of programs willy nilly among the Distros. What vendor wants to keep track? Do we need a Bill Gates to organize us? It would seem so. Good God almighty, we've been talking about Open Source for years and we still have some very very hard-heads out there, with regards to standards. I truly believe that a good bare-knuckles brawl should settle all of the politics once and for all. Just duke it out. I'll put down $5 on Matthew Szulic to TKO any comers in the first round. Who's gonna hold the money?? :) Ric
1102.11/30/2007 7:46:00 AMBetter support for Docking stations
1103.11/30/2007 8:02:00 AMWebcam support for old as well as new webcams.
1104.11/30/2007 9:11:00 AMThe highest priority should be dealing with lingering patent threats and intellectual property rights.
1105.11/30/2007 11:06:00 AMeasy ways to install all propriatry codecs.
1106.11/30/2007 1:57:00 PMMaking Linux drivers available on Hardware Vendor Supplied CD is the top priority. We have waited sometimes for years for the new release of kernels to make use of the hardware. Vendors should prominently display a Hardware Compatibility LIst.
1107.11/30/2007 2:39:00 PMI'm not sure what &quot;Application packaging&quot; means. I assume it means, the ability to install packages, which I think is that absolute biggest problem most people have with Linux. It's too damn hard to just install a random piece of software. If it doesn't come with the distrobution, it's often difficult to get working.
1108.11/30/2007 5:47:00 PMMicrosoft office total compatibility at hte document level, not at the interface level
1109.11/30/2007 5:54:00 PMNeed viable alternative for MS Office, MS Visual Studio, and.... gaming support...
1110.11/30/2007 8:22:00 PMcentralized management (free || open source)
1111.11/30/2007 11:26:00 PMCentralized management and reporting across large numbers of clients. RHN and Zenworks are both too limited and too vendor specific.
1112.12/1/2007 3:35:00 AMNot to loose focus on Linux's current strenghts
1113.12/1/2007 9:43:00 AMhttp://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html
1114.12/1/2007 12:45:00 PM1) A user level database application, e.g. Foxpro 2) At Linux install, have the distro look for hardware, get the driver from dvd or web (universal to all distros), either compile then with drivers or easily all for them to be called by the kernel as needed, without user intervention. 3) Come up with a new documentation for utilities including examples. Put this on the web for all distros to use.
1115.12/1/2007 3:03:00 PMClean up the software install / update. Have an easy way to go back. Need to be able to easily find where packages are installed, should be able to install / remove by cp and rm commands. (as all in one directory) Don't be a copy of Windows. FOCUS on miminal changes with updates.
1116.12/2/2007 4:58:00 AMKeep all distributions different.
1117.12/2/2007 7:47:00 PMOffice suites' interoperability with Microsoft Word and other MS Office apps.
1118.12/2/2007 10:03:00 PMAvoid conformity Look that makes difficult to distinguish applications when several active. (i.e. Word Processor, Spreadsheet, CAD page, Presentation, File Mananger need not look alike a la Windows-tm.) AutoCad had a better GUI before its &quot;window-dressing.&quot; Same for Page-Maker and Word-Perfect. (e.g.) The hide/size/close buttons are too close together in win-x.