ThinkPad Tablet makes my writer parts tingly

Ever since I bought my first IBM ThinkPad laptop a few years back, then upgraded to a Lenovo IdeaPad netbook, I've been interested in both portable writing devices and in IBM, now Lenovo (as far as laptops/netbooks go, since they bought ThinkPad and kept it just as robust) products. None of the tablets out there have caught my attention because none of them look like anything I would want to write on. Being a writer, and as of this fall a professor and grad student in composition studies, I want my gadgets to be writer friendly. And now I have academic interest in how technology impacts the writing process. The new ThinkPad Android tablet not only looks great for writing, since it seems to have some amazing word processing power. Additionally, it might just keep handwriting alive, which is pretty amazing for a tablet to do well, or at least for a tablet company to want to do well in. Check out this video from Lenovo showcasing the keyboard case and the digital pen, both optional add-ons that seem well worth the price. Speaking of price, the ThinkPad table is priced around iPad prices, which is a hurdle, which means I probably won't be getting one till it's time to ditch my IdeaPad netbook. You can check out the tablet from Lenovo's website, and read Engadget's in depth review. Here's the video:

My vision (and call for help) for a Linux OS for Writers

Several months back I had a great idea: Put together an operating system based on GNU/Linux with everything a professional writer needs. Here's where my brainstorming has taken me:

• Built on top of Ubuntu, Lubuntu, or Fedora, some top shelf, open/free, completely stable flavor of Linux. 
• The learning curve should be zero, or as close to zero as possible. Writers should want to use this OS because of its professional quality, and they shouldn't have to completely relearn a new OS in the process. If there is any learning curve, the quality of the OS should be so good that writers are willing to get past it so they can use it.
• The cost could be zero so writers can worry about writing, not their bank account. It could also be a little more than zero depending on what we might need to pay for preloading certain apps onto the OS.
• It needs to be free & open source software so it can be continually improved by the community. The OS community will comprise writers and programmers working together.
• An extremely minimal, but intuitive UI.
• This could be Gnome or some other interface that allows the user to have a 100% clutter-free screen, with bars and menus that automatically hide when not in use. 
• Unity could be an option if it becomes more customizable.
• Tried and true, top-shelf applications, alongside new, cutting edge software that writers need. Here are examples, though I'm open to suggestions.
• Heavy duty text editor programmed for writers, with tools writers need. Most text editors have extras for programmers that writers could care less about, and frankly clutter everything up. Most writers don't care about programming code. It feels like a waste to open up LibreOffice just to take a few notes, but sometimes I want a little more functionality than Gedit offers. 
• LibreOffice or something similar
• Scribus (maybe--I have yet to test it but it seems to be an industry standard, as far as free software goes, for publishing software).
• Wordpress (I've personally been partial to Blogger, but web pro friends may be slowly convincing me of the value of Wordpress. I don't know if it's ever been integrated into an OS before, and don't know if we'd have to pay anything for the privelage. If we did, there would go the free cost aspect of the OS.) or another blog/webpage editor
• An html editor for coding your own epubs
• Calibre ebook management system (reading non-drm ebooks, organizing ebook library, converting documents into ebooks for easy reading on your ereader device or app)
• Cheese Webcam Booth
• Task Coach (advanced to do list, even keeps track of billable hours--great for freelancers)
• Freemind (mindmapping app)
• Recoll (advanced desktop search)
• Liferea Feed Reader
• An easy-peasy video and audio software for video blogs, book trailers, and podcasts.
• A quality dictionary app
• The web browser would take some consideration. 
• Firefox is very powerful, and has great extensibility. 
• Chromium has great app integration (could have custom Chromium with certain apps preloaded, like Evernote) and is pretty speedy. When it's working well, you barely notice you're even in a browser, so that goes great with the minimal UI.
• I think the UI and the special text editor may have to be customized for this OS. Otherwise, most of the rest can be out of the box, as far as the apps themselves go. We might have to take some things out of the standard issue Linux we borrow to make it all work together and to avoid bloat.
• Some cool writerly backgrounds, like a photo of the surface of a writing desk.
• This could be a package that sits on top of Ubuntu, like Edubuntu, or a stand alone OS. 

I really want to launch this. I have a project page at Launchpad for Writer Application Bundle, thinking a first step would be to bundle the software apps. You can join the project, leave a comment below, or send me an email.

We'll need programmers, beta testers, and Linux geeks of all stripes. If you're interested in helping, or even if this sounds cool, speak up!