Something that doesn't crash!
Something that does not reject software
something that easily recognizes hardware and is easy to work with
Something that works smoothly and intuitively
Something that is developed by the public at large and is adaptable

It must be Stable, Light, Intuitive and Responsive...
And yeah, there should be enough software available to work with. (I guess this doesn't apply so much if you're asking about a OS focused on using the Internet)

- Encrypted filesystems by default, transparent to the user. Netbooks are gonna get lost, they need to be able to be disposable without risk to the user.
- Transparent cloud data storage. Everything on the netbook that I make should be available somewhere else, so it doesn't matter if I hit it with my lawnmower.
- Fast and simple. It should stay out of my way. Network connections should just work, so should the sound controls, so should the power management, etc- all of these can be challenging in Linux. I should never see a spinning beach ball or hourglass.
- Robust package management. Since the netbooks will be coming from commercial vendors, they're going to be larded up with shovelware and other crap. The OS needs to have a system for un-crappifying the vendorware as quickly as possible, and it needs to make adding new apps as easy as possible.
- A pony.

I'd like to see an OS that's fast and lightweight, to start up and get me onto the web in a few seconds. I want the user interface to be minimal and to stay out of my way. The underlying security architecture of the OS should be designed so that I don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

And it should be open source.

online backup.

online save/load of preferences, look&feel, after-install customizations.

easy after-install adding of not-free stuff. one only command (mp3, codecs, Adobe stuff and so on, nvidia)

easy OS spin generation.

easy install on bootable usb-sticks.

Ability to use remote application software like gaikai and onlive and tie a clouded virtual drive to the machine so saving files locally and remotely are possible for photoshop/video/and or game modifications. Needs a standard and focus on delivering great applications remotely no matter what the computing power.

It depends of my need and the device I'm using actually. If I'm using an appliance (cell phone, Web appliance?), an ultra-fast boot time is a must.

In any case, an operating system which is optimized is always welcome. I'm sick of needing more and more powerful machines to basically do the same thing.

I would place low maintenance as a close second. That means the opsys doesn't require constant attention because a security fix hasn't been installed, the need to defragment the disk / reinstall / ... every once in a while because the system gets slower and slower. I remember upgrading PalmOS (back in the days) and it was beautiful! The upgrade backed up my programs and preferences, wiped out everything on my Palm, installed the new OS and reinstalled everything on top of it!

I would love to see an OS that will play all programs made and be bare bone and simple. The fewer extras in it the better. Of course I am just wishing here. LOL

It should at least support webcams!

I do 99% of my computing online, have moved all my apps and data to the cloud and have a fetish for all things Google. Guess what OS I am eagerly awaiting...

It must be fast.
Security would be nice, but just for everyone else (I've never had a virus, and have been without AV software for months).
Stability. I don't want to have constantly crashing windows or intermittent network problems.
Speaking of networks, it MUST be compatible with wireless-N! And out of the box. No more complex procedures to get it working.
Work on ext4 but be able to read FAT32.
Work with my fingerprint scanner!
Minimalistic. I want to be able to have literally nothing on the desktop, no mounted drives, no corner menu icons (I'm sure some people know what I'm talking about).
Totally customizable. Have a bunch of glass-style (and I don't mean like the fake Windows style) themes, among others.
AutoHotKey-like application built-in. Or at least totally customizable keyboard shortcuts.
Colemak support (qwerty is so slow).
Automatic analysis of what possible inputs there are (like the Internet shortcut on my keyboard) that I can remap as I see fit.
Fullscreen with only one icon dropping down at a time, and then only on the side.
My ultimate idea: the taskbar has a chat login for fb, Google Talk, AIM, online application updates, twitter pop-ups, downloads, etc.
The most important thing: Google!

Jim
Me too! I use every single Google App (literally).

- A kind of browser environment that would be powerful enough to allow me to run photo and movie editing as web apps.

- very usable file system manager, nothing like rather horrible Windows Vista Explorer.

- if web apps are showing as desktop apps, than they should still always show their URL.

It should update at least weekly automatically behind the scenes and have a blog that communicates about update details. It should have a highly customizable user interface. It should be free.

We should not have to install hardware driver, but the OS should get it itself from internet.
We want 3D, and ... games ... like microsoft OS ...
We want an online google disk

It should start up fast and immediately connect to the internet.
It should be secure. No way in, no way out and no way through without my say-so, but should not bother me about everything (adaptive learning?).
It should recognize hardware and install it.
The file system should work like labels.
Remote desktop should function flawlessly (depending on network connection).
All google products should function with this system.
It should be able to emulate other operating systems such that programs which have been created for operating system X can work with GOOS (GOogle Operating System) until a tailored solution is created.
It must be stable and intuitive. If something goes wrong I should be able to fix it without hours of work.
It should update like google chrome, but not go from filling 3 GB to 30 GB without warning ie. major increases or changes should be announced to the user.

It would be nice if it was skinable.

Fingerprint reader functionality and of course a pony (thx Californian and Tim Howland).

I'm woefully out of my depth on this, but....

In many ways the closest thing to my desired OS is puppy linux. Small, fast, easily recovered, etc.

Problems are drivers, software, and adding and removing software.

I'd like to see an interface like Mac OS X. Wait.. that's what I have. Sweet, the future is now!

I think the main features of an OS are:

- Speed, speed, speed and a little more of speed;
- Security. A lot of it.
- Low resources consumption;
- A lot of synchronization (with cloud preferentially)!!!

For a netbook I really think this is the main features needed. If a netbook is Fast, secure, low consumption and have a lot of synchronization to share important files with home computers, I would immediately buy one netbook for my work!
I really waiting a fantastic OS from Google.

I want an OS that is independent of the file-system and installed software. I want "my" system to reside either online or on the portable storage device. I'd like to sit down at any computer and either plug in my software or link to it online and have it work.

I realized that one of the most important things I'd want in a new OS is support of programs on different OSes. I'm sure Google could figure out a way to create an OS that runs Windows, Mac, and even Linux apps in a single operating system/workspace. If I'm getting Chrome OS, I better have programs of choice to run on it!

integrated office applications!

An OS that protects itself from everything where:
   – Internal OS files can not be seen at all (so no viruses, users get in there and cause problems)
   – Faulty Device Drivers can not cause the entire system to crash
   – Every app is sandboxed so that faults can be handled and an uninstall is as simple as deleting the sandbox.
   – Where the system / OS tools ALWAYS get priority over other programs so that things like "Task Manager" will always work, no mater what other programs are doing or the strain the CPU is under.
   – An OS that is UN-KILLABLE by viruses, faulty software but most importantly
   – AN OS THAT MY FATHER CAN NOT BREAK WHEN HE THOUGHT HE KNEW WHAT HE AS DOING!

> launchy/quicksilver type app launcher

> label type hierarchy system.. no folders..

-No Crash
-Recognize Hardware easily, auto install drivers.
-Software compatible. so most software can run on this OS smoothly.
-Speed! Speed! Speed!
-Lightweight. Better if it can run on LiveCD.
-Easy recover.

operating system that can work well with slow internet access, recognize hardware easily

I want an OS that (at minimum):

-is stable
-boots quickly
-does not hog all the resources
-is compatible with common programs and devices
-is easy to use but let's advanced users customize it to their liking

Preface this with the fact that I'm a web developer.

I need an OS with a minimal memory footprint and stays the hell out of my way while I'm working.

Backups, encryption, etc are all good. As long as I can easily turn them off if I need to free up system resources.

I think a method for installing web applications would be nice. For example say you visit Sumopaint.com and use it in the web browser. Then assuming the application was designed for the Chrome OS, it would also have an install button. Pressing that would load all the code locally so it would launch instantly like a binary application function offline without problems. Perhaps even install a few extra features that would take to long to load in a live web page. It should check for modular updates during use just as if the website page were refreshed.

Applications from the web or installed locally should also be able to access personal files from the hard drive or from the web storage area... seamlessly. Or storage of someone else if shared.

Personal data storage could maybe be similar to the function of DropBox. When working with large files they would save instantly to the local drive but start syncing to the online storage space. It should also have maybe a limited level of local versioning similar to how Google Docs and DropBox do online.

It might be nice to have a file system similar to Gmail where everything is stored in a single location but provide labels and good search for managing the data.

I want an OS that has all the benefits of current OSes but introduces radical improvements as well (I can wish, I hope). Running Windows programs is a necessity, having a decent Unix command line would be great as well.

Particularly nice might be parts of the vision suggested by Jef Raskin in the Humane Computer. It would be nice to get beyond the application as a silo concept. For example, on my computer at the moment, I have I don't know how many spell checkers with different dictionaries and so forth. Adding words to a dictionary or changing the language to en-AU is difficult or useless. However, in spite of this, I type in many text boxes in different applications that have no spell checking whatsoever. Much nicer would be having one central spell checking "command" that applied to all applications and all text boxes, and which I can change the dictionary in once. Doing similar things with OCR and a lot of other services prevent these things being continually reimplemented and siloed. Ubiquity commands are possibly many steps in the right direction, but it needs to move further into the OS core.

Associative memory would be good, including labelling and categorising anything I look at, but also implicit labelling and connections (for example, you looked at Y at the same time as X). Maybe something like Google Web History, but handling all documents you view, books you read, etc., etc.

A key problem OSes will increasingly have to deal with is managing information in its many guises. It must not slow down the computer, since we are very intolerant of waiting, but it must find what I want when I want it, and also find all of the necessary related information so that we can make informed decisions.

Must install to the HDD without human intervention.

Must have an option to select and edit applications that are required , like say during installation must ask the user few simple questions for what he is using the PC and based on the answers the applications must be installed .

Must be open and free to edit as per the users wish , must have no dependencies for any apps once installed.

Must be flexible enough for the user to change the OS behviour as per his will and wish

I want an OS that won't hang when I try to connect to a problematic network volume or an unformatted flash card. This can happen with OS X and any flavor of Windows.

I want great searching capabilities. Spotlight does fairly well, but could be improved upon a lot. Google may do well with search in their new OS, as long as the results aren't displayed in a browser.

Everything everyone else just mentioned for productivity needs, but all work and no play makes me...bored. So any OS I use needs to have either access or its own library of quality games.

Depends on the purpose. As yet there are no good online coding tools (but there will be within a couple of years I am sure), thus I have two basic types om machines; 1) coding machines 2) browsing machines. For my browsing machines I want exactly what Google is doing, a holder of a browser that stays out of the way.

But that said I can for my life not understand why they do not port Android to x86. Having two OS is spreading the lines thin even for Google

I want an OS which do the following things by itself (not the user):
   1. Driver installation (printer, DVD recorder, etc.);
   2. Disk cleaning, defragment, etc.;
   3. Music / Video codec download;
   4. Hacker / Malware protecting;
   5. Connection setup – we just need to enter username & password;
   6. Data backup / recovery (online?)
   7. OS / Apps Update
   8. ... ...
I wonder why Windows is so lazy that when problems above occurred, users have to find solutions by themselves.

It has to be designed to be fast. Boot fast, and bring me apps ready to use fast.
I'd like to use an OS that lets me switch from one application to other wihtout having to search for it many seconds.
I want to add and use a lot of shortcuts.

Currently, with Windows XP, I boot in less than 40 seconds (the record was 26 secs, some time ago), and except for Firefox, I have all the applications I use at hand fast.
Alt+tab is not enough for me, though it does its work.
Launchy and AutoHotkey help me a lot.

I like UBUNTU if:

1- world accept a universal template for hardware drivers then we never look for different drivers for different os! at least for different linux distros

2- it comes in a flavors for only home users which means do all without command line or complicated instructions on graphical interface.

I'd like a web OS that's 3D & live. With a good mind mapping social network.

To be fast

.: highly componentized and extensible, unfortunately, chrome infrastructure doesn't help for that matter until now, that's if it was based basically of chrome (online service + OS)

.: network connections virtualization (OS)

.: synchronization framework to be used consistently among all the system components and external services (online service + OS)

.: integrated protected virtualized mode, for private and secure operations, online or offline (OS)

.: integrated identity and user profiling management system, that help with the increased number of online identities for all the different online services (online service + OS)

.: integrated friends support into the core system, so that any components in the application and system layer get (online service + OS)

.: unified non traditional file system (not necessarily a relational one), that treats files and generic data types as first level citizens, also should natively support online data management systems, like browsing photos from related services, videos from related services, posts and mails, etc ... (online service + OS)

.: a very, very, intuitive user experience (online services + OS)

.: a unified communication presentation channels (online service)

.: integrated multimedia and presentation framework, think DirectX for windows! (OS)

.: try to support new methods for data input and capture, like multi touch, motion and objects recognition, sound and facial expressions, etc ... (OS)

.: unified integrated ways to capture quick small data, like events, notes, etc .. (online services + OS)

.exe software support
full compatibility with windows software

> full compatibility with windows software

Including Windows viruses? They're software too.

No-one asked for an integrated app store?

* Free
* Open Source
* Stable
* Fast
* Can run Firefox
* Supports WPA :P
* Quick boot

To be simple I will say fast, secure, relatively bug free and easy to use.

Login from any PC and find all my files and settings.
Should work online and offline.
All data saved in the cloud is encrypted.
All data exchanged with the colud is encrypted.

We want support of wine(windows emulator) or something same this in your linux, we want command line same unix or dos/nt. we want a IDE same delphi/bcb in C language, we want C language(not only on kernel), native qt(or same) is good for your OS. hahaha

An OS which has everything to replace windows on every desktop.

Agree with Jared. Snow Leopard will deliver 90% of what I want from an OS. Currently Linux (for me) is about 30%, Windows 40% and Leopard 70%. The new core technologies in Snow Leopard make it the most fture proof OS out there (at least mainstream, as I am unfamiliar with Solaris, BSD etc.)

From a new OS, I want it to be designed beautifully and thoughtfully and I think all apps should run in a similar fashion, á la Cocoa on Mac OS.

The 10% I want are little things like System-Wide features rather than app specific ones. For example – On Windows and OS X natively you can copy one thing to the clip board, and if you copy something else it replaces it. However, this is different in Word 2003 and upwards. Instead of building it into the app, build it System-Wide. Things like that.

In short:
Future Technologies (Grand Central Dispatch. 64 bit)
I don't mind if it takes up a lot of space
Must be fast
Must be beautiful and intuitively designed
System Wide design and characteristics.

Apps install w/o need of reboot.
BitTorrent native support.
Browser options.

The new Operating system should be able to support programs designed both for Windows xp and above, as well as macintosh. i have has the problem of having to stick with XP to run some of my favorite games, and similar software programs. Sometimes, this is a real hassle.

It also needs to be installable on both windows and macintosh

--------the new OS needs to have several things included.--------

1. A simple, easy to use and/or modify sidebar, very similar to google desktop.

2. a dedicated web browser, that would also serve as a base to running a multitude of other programs within that browser. (essentially, google chrome)

3. a simple, easy to use music & video player. it would need to be universal, and play multiple video formats, such as quicktime, mp3's, and windows media files. this would be a huge thing for google to go into. eventually, this could morph into a service for selling and distributing music, similar to iTunes.
[ an advanced version, for writing and assembling videos, and burning and ripping cds would also be appreciated.]

4. a set of simple, but powerful word processing tools. they would be similar to google docs, and incorporated with the online service completely like picasa web albums are incorporated with Picasa 3
[this would be followed by more advanced sets of writing tools with similar capabilities to Microsoft Word.
[this could possibly be integrated into the google chrome browser?]

5. a dedicated pop3 and imap mail client. it needs to be once again simple, as well as powerful. in my mind, it would look a lot like gmail does. i think this should have come a long time ago, but it would be a good thing to unveil with the OS

6. a new, expanded version of google talk. it would need to have the same shape& structure, as well as the ability to sign into aim, gmail, and yahoo, just to name a few. it would need to be able to make video calls, based on the networks' ability's to do so.

7. Programs to make powerpoints, a publisher program to make cards&posters, a spreadsheet program, as well as picasa.

8. an updater to make sure that all of the google programs are kept up-to-date and working at peak efficiency

9. a firewall, anti-virus program, or support for norton and other programs like it.

10. a better taskbar. it needs to have links to programs, the time, as well as a mail icon, and links to the major google programs listed above. and it needs to be able to be hidden and shown like the macintosh taskbar.

-----------------------------------------------------------

All in all, the new programs also need to have a sleek look such as google chrome. they need to be able to work together with eachother, as well as your google account. to get access to google OS, one should be required to have a google account. also, on the business front, a lot of business's would appreciate a better system too, especailly the ones who already use google apps. that would require a lot of networking tools though, and i'm not an expert on those.

i propose that in order to log into your computer, you would need to use your google account. therefore, once the program is installed, anyone could use it without messing up your stuff. the necesarry information could be transferred from your home computer, or the system reset for a new google user.

all in all, there are a lot of things you could do with google OS

have fun with it – Ben

It is impossible for an OS to run both Win and OS X apps, unless it boots separately or virtualises, if it builds in the code it would be hugely bloated, plus it would look like an ass.

Quick bootup
Not a memory hog
Very user-friendly
Random-error free
Free (this is already covered....yes!!)

- It should be Free
- Better Filesystem
- Better security

There should be two features that go hand in hand.
1. Complete user isolation. I can let a user log into a guest account and they can't mess/see any of the other users file.
2. Once 1 is done, let users log in using a universal account. This could a google account, Open ID, Windows Live account, pick you poisen. Because they can't break or see your files, there would be no problem.

something more than... a browser...

Something that doesn't trawl all my stuff and invade my privacy

All of us need an operating system that must be compatible will all programs,soft wares,games etc.For instance there are some programs who have two different versions like we have a separate yahoo messenger for windows xp and a separate one for windows vista. I urge Google to develop such an operating system in which both messengers are compatible.
  

users wants

in order:

1. cool graphics
2. cool design
3. simple

...as apple teaches

....stablility, good SF, opensource, etc...are things for nerd, not for user OS.....(i'm a nerd Oo)

Hi

It should be fast, secure and ability to support and detect software and hardwares.

www.techbluz.com

It seems to be a Linux Kernel OS, so as ThinkgOS did, ChormeOS should use the debian package system. Thus debian's & ubuntu's community will not be far away. Moreover, skilled user will use the powerful apt/synaptic package system.

It must has a dedicated visualization software, to run it quickly and simply through windows or mac OS.

It must have a strong password safe to give quick access to Google apps without login. Why not using the Google account password as the user password? It's not very secure but more simple, it's just an idea.

Use a face recognition system for login and root password. It's very simple for end-users and webcams are common now. Moreover kernel modules for webcam are sweet now! But don't forget to ask on ten first times clear pictures of each user.

Create a pop-up notification system for new email, RSS feed update, gtalk friend login.

Give to user the choice to store data on their local machine or as a clouded data.

Ask to the main/admin user which folder are accessible for other local users (but not to the guest session). Like the music, pictures and photos.

Regarding the mess of audio and video file formats, I don't know how google developers can do but it's a good opportunity to promote free codecs.

Finally, the only way to run a window software on a linux kernel comes with winehq, however on a visualized environment, user will have the choice to run Chrome OS on a windows host...

If you want to give a mac touch to this future OS, take a look at this uprising GNUstep project: étoiléOS.

I hope it was helpful, if you want more or involve me, email me at mathieu825[at]gmail.com

Obviously, Porn.

LOLCATS

Start with a solid, basic, version of UNIX.

Give it 'also' a GUI with multiple, switchable desktops.

And, Plug & Play.

Voilà!

It's a small bug bear, I don't suppose it'll ever be a killer feature, none the less, I'd love to see: the ability to simply access some sane information on what/who/how a file is locked when I get an exception stating that I can't get my paws on a file due to it being locked.