What software would you like to see in 5 years?

[SonnHalter]

just a thought in my head for a while

List:
Access-this program is kind of like virtualization. but, instead, it displays your other OS that your dual booting.

WINE: but more perfect. can run any windows software.

Linon-my name for a great desktop-enviroment that will replace gnome kde xfce and enlightenment.

Creatius-smart program that can read through tar.bz files and build them or put them where they need to go.

Ubuntu general changes-faster internet, better gaming platforming, faster.

[InfinityCircuit]

A Scheme interpreter that is fully consistent with R6RS. Perl 6. Haskell'.

No more optimistic than you.

:lolflag:

[smartboyathome]

Mine is something you can already do, but have to do youself. I would like to see it automated. It would allow you to store the MBR's data on a USB drive, and the partition(s) would then be encrypted. Finally, a password could be assigned by the user. This would make it so that the computer would be unusable unless you had the usb "key" inserted into the computer to boot it up.

I got the idea from Goldkey, but was sad to hear that it required being run on Windows or Mac OS X, and didn't work with root partitions

[Washer]

a better UI, like any that have been done in dozens of game so far

see bumptop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ

[Grant A.]

OpenNT
KDE 4.5
XFCE 5
GRUB 2
Duke Nukem Forever

[BatsotO]

Anything that can run on my p3 machine. There are old car hobbyists, old bike, old plane, old furniture, why not start old pc hobbyists.

[jpmelos]

Something that could read my mind and do whatever I want. I want to see a movie, it plays. I want to browse a page, it shows me. That would be the end of GUI and the beginning of a new era, the MRUI (Mind Reading User Interface). No panels would be needed. Everything will be accessed through your mind.

I don't mean magic. No. The program would just be automated. Like a house that the lights, the TV, the audio system and stuff turns on as you go in the room. As I think, the program would open my browser and show my page, would execute my player and play my video, etc...

Maybe I'm too optimistic... xD Maybe 20 years from now?... Maybe 5? Who knows. Haha!

[MikeTheC]

I have a number of things I would like to see happen.

Free and Open Source As Medium and Message

As the world's population continues to pass through this era of ever-expanding government and corporate control, the best way to not just fight but win that war (and it is a war, lest you think otherwise) is through acting as a community, not a commune, and build technology and society on the foundations of the F/OSS movement. Without a checks-and-balances system in place, we will continue to leave ourselves vulnerable to exploitation by the lesser elements of human nature. That should be the goal, moving forward, of the 21st century.


Competition Of Ideas In The Public Arena

Linux's greatest strength is in it's ability to have a thriving plurality of approaches to solving problems. One of the reasons Linux is so well suited to so many tasks is not in the code as much as it is in the people who write the code. Look at the different desktop environments available for Linux. Look at the development tools available to programmers in Linux. Look at the myriad distributions and all of their unique approaches to the question of "How should a computer work for it's user?"

It's an easy answer to simply say "I want X program ported," and while not invalid, a more useful thing to say would be "I want X functionality brought to Linux." A program is a single, finite answer, and it may not be the right answer for everyone. But when you say "There's no program to do 'blah' kind of task," or "I want to do 'foo', but the software which exists really doesn't meet my needs", you can draw many people to take many different approaches to solving that absence or that deficiency.


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As for myself, personally I would like to see:

Scribus fleshed out to function more like InDesign or QuarkXPress;

Gimp to be further refined in it's user interface to equal and beat Photoshop (oh, yeah, and to *finally* have CMYK support and a world-class color management/matching system;

Linux as a whole needs to have color management technology built into it, just like Mac OS X and Windows;

a Adobe GoLive or Dreamweaver-class graphical web design program;

a RapidWeaver or iWeb-like graphical, CSS-oriented web design program;

F-Spot fleshed out to be all of the good things found in Picasa and iPhoto;

Software for screenwriters and novel authors;

Spotlight-class/featureset-parity file management and search system built into Linux; and

a Time Machine-like backup software which can also leverage the best of existing Linux data backup software.

[bsharp]

Lumira (Cinelerra 3) finished and stable.

[billgoldberg]

I would say, just improve the current software to perfection.

And a decent Linux video editor (I've tried them all, they all suck).

[dreaminhere]

The ones I've missed the most in my transition to windows is an MS access and inDesign replacement. I'd like to see scribus improve.

I would love to run more big title windows games as well.

[cmat]

A decent linux CAD package. Blender is horrible for my line of work.

[Paqman]

I was about to say "a non-Beta Gmail" but then I saw you'd limited it to only 5 years.

[sports fan Matt]

Software like TurboTax (through feedback, even though they wouldnt listen) to import a linux version. Yes I know theres WINE but it would be so much easier..But I know im living in a pipe dream...

[cmay]

i would like to see some more movie editing software and more audio recording programs and i mean for proffesional use. that is the only place i think linux missing something in synaptic.
i would also to bee a nit optimistic like to see that all software in the mainstream usage category has a gpl license on it.

and to be very optimistic and daydreaming i would like to see my name as author on a pice of gpl software someday wihtin the next 5 years.

i just had my morning coffee and i been sleeping all day so i am still a bit confused :)

[DoktorSeven]

Programs going the other direction from the current trend of bigger = better. Small, light, simple software that is heavily optimized rather than bloated messes that are making older systems nearly unusable just for basic tasks (I'm mostly thinking of browsers here).

Just because we have quad-core systems with 4GB+ of RAM doesn't mean a program has to use a good chunk of those resources.

[ubudog]

Something to plug in my phone and connect to its internet.