I agree with dropping PHP 4 and Hello Dolly, though Akismet could stay in core.
I think speed should be another thing to work on; SQL efficiency. Try to limit the number of database requests per page load. We shouldn’t need caching plugins to make our sites fast.
Maybe an option to turn off code formatting (automatic paragraphs and such)? There are plugins that do this, but I think it should be a core feature.
Maybe a “lite” version of WordPress; one that just does a blog with basic taxonomies. Basically posts, comments, categories, tags, media, and custom fields (and obviously plugins and themes). Sometimes I just want a lightweight blog engine.
I’m currently with Godaddy, and I find the shared plan I’m on is slow. I’m sure if you got one of their more expensive plans it would be faster (I have the cheapest plan).
I’ve heard lots of good stuff about Media Temple… Can’t say anything about them myself, though.
Hope this helps,
Alex
