- Hardware Compatibility:
- Run on x86, AMD
- Software Compatibility:
- Support Win PE, Unix executables and Mac executables natively.
- Boot loader:
- Support booting from usb, sd card
- OS:
- Ability to have the whole OS on portable media (eg SD card) if so required
- File system:
- Tagged storage instead of directories
- Sensible file system hierarchy that combines win/unix/mac concepts
- FS shadowing for legacy executables so that they think they're still "at home"
- Ability to move /home to an sd card if so required. More generically, ability to configure OS to have any "standard, should be on boot volume" directory elsewhere.
- Memory:
- Nothing special as of now.
- Disk:
- versioning of files built in. ie some kind of journaling file system.
- Security built in - encrypt a file, directory, mount point or whole system.
- UI:
- Light, capability-based UI framework.
- Support for UI paradigms such as radial menus - controls that use Fitts Law better, basically
- "Back to the place I was before" mode for people not ready to make the plunge
- Keyboard support for everything. EVERYTHING!
- Software in general:
- Solve the package manager/installer problem for good
- Solve the registry vs 1000s of config files problem for good
- Rolling versions of the OS, easy revert back to previous version
- Tool to see files changed due to any install/ version upgrade built into the OS
- Shell:
- normalization of options and formats across at least the busybox commands
- autocomplete for command options got from info/help files
- oo-ize commands (ie dir.ls instead of cd dir;ls)
- Structured editing of the command line a la zsh
Updates to this post as I think em up :)
Update #1:
Show a schematic box diagram of the computer system as it boots up and have icons (or text) depicting the status of each box in the diagram.
This is in lieu of the "screens of flying text" a la linux or the "startup progress bar that never quite ends" of windows/osx
Also missed out adding my idea about intelligent workspaces, but it should be in this list.
Update #1:
Show a schematic box diagram of the computer system as it boots up and have icons (or text) depicting the status of each box in the diagram.
This is in lieu of the "screens of flying text" a la linux or the "startup progress bar that never quite ends" of windows/osx
Also missed out adding my idea about intelligent workspaces, but it should be in this list.