Poll Results: What's in your 2014 Linux Desktop?

After a few weeks open, the survey I created to find out which things people want to see implemented for the future Linux desktop is finally closed. The results are very interesting, as can be seen in the table below.

CATEGORY	VOTES
Enhanced hardware support	72 (70%)
Better Audio and Video tools	60 (58%)
Faster boot/shutdown	49 (48%)
Wine: Full Windows app support	48 (47%)
New and enhanced XORG	47 (46%)
Ease of use (GUI, Wizards, etc)	43 (42%)
Better Gaming	43 (42%)
Include proprietary software	42 (41%)
Long Term Support	36 (35%)
4G Internet everywhere support	32 (31%)
Better Desktop FX	27 (26%)
Single Packaging	23 (22%)
1 year cycle release	23 (22%)
Almost no applications preinstalled	23 (22%)
2 years release cycle	19 (18%)
Internet driven (ala Google Chrome)	15 (14%)
6 months release cycle	14 (13%)
Tons of applications preinstalled	14 (13%)
100% open source	14 (13%)
Native Social Integration	8 (7%)
Other	8 (7%)

As expected, hardware support is one of the elements that most people identify as an area of improvement. Better audio and video tools comes second, which I found surprising myself, for I thought other items would be regarded higher. From there things get a lot tighter, with faster boot up/shut down coming third and better Windows support from Wine coming fourth.

One thing I forgot about, though, was better power management. My laptops batteries last noticeably less with Linux than they do with Windows, specially with Windows 7. I know there is constant and steady improvement in this area, which is why I hope to see Linux managing power better in a few years time.

All things considered, the good news is that most things identified here are already widely considered as areas of improvement. They will surely get better shortly, certainly before 2014! XORG is undergoing a complete revamp, Wine is constantly growing more powerful and solid and most distros already are making efforts to boot faster. In addition, certain distros like Linux Mint or Pardus are doing an extremely good job at removing difficulty and making Linux more accessible to everyone.

The list goes on and on... The future is looking bright!

Thanks for reading and specially to those who voted.