Stop being a chameleon

I was reading in the latest issue of Linux Format about a thing called Parallax. This is essentially a technology which will allow for facial and bodily recognition and will react to various movements. For example, if you lean back in your chair whilst watching a video, the video may become full screen. Or, should you stray away from your desk, notifications will appear larger, or the volume will increase. The ability to use facial recognition for login is fairly obvious.

This represents what I believe we should encourage in Linux: innovation and eye-catching features. At the moment, Linux does many things better than Windows and Mac, but does little very differently, at least to the average user. But this is something else. This is a new feature, unrivalled by Windows or Mac, which could genuinely make our lives easier and richer. That, rather than kernel or driver improvements, would make people sit up and take notice of Linux, and Ubuntu. In fact, you can forget the Software Centre and Upstart and the Uncomplicated Firewall, this may prove to be the most innovative thing the community has achieved. It could, assuming it keeps its momentum, be a game changer.

Certainly, once it emerges out of prototype stage, it could well be THE reason why people make the switch to our community.