This exists for Microsoft Office; it's called Search Commands and is available as a free add-on. It works pretty well, and does exactly what you describe: you type in a search box, and it shows relevant actions. The addon is made by Microsoft, so obviously they do have this idea and are considering its applications.

I was excited when I found this product, since I've been thinking something like this would be nice ever since the ribbon was introduced. But you know what? I never use it. I find it much quicker to just use things where they're built in. Once you get used to it, everything in the ribbon is actually pretty well laid out and easy to find. One nice feature of the Search Commands addon is that it'll tell you how to get to the tool normally. It's a good way to figure out how to get places, but once you know where things are, it's much faster to go straight there.

I can see this being really useful for finding creatives commons licensed images. If you find an image or diagram you'd really like to include in a document, but it's not openly licensed, you could look for other images like it, but use Google Image Search's recently-added license filter to find CC-licensed materials.

I think Sheldon, from The Big Bang Theory, sums up astrology pretty well.

It tells us that you participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality.

If all you need is "a" text processor, spreadsheet program, and slideshow program, then go ahead and use another text processor, spreadsheet program, and slideshow program. There's plenty of them out there. Office is a bit more complex than you make it out to be there. The integration between office programs (ability to edit excel graphs within word for example) and features like sharepoint server, office is quite a bit more than just those things though. Simple documents, spreadsheets and presentations don't require office, though some may find office easier to use. But for complex things, it does its job well, and may be worth the price.

Furthermore, office home and student (the version which costs $150) can be legally installed on three computers at once. That's a mere $50 per license, which makes it a good deal for families. It's also often on sale at both retail and online stores - right now newegg has it for $105. That's $35 per license. Which is barely over your stated price of $30. Maybe not such a bad deal after all, eh?

Portland, Oregon actually has implemented something similar to this. They created iPhone and Android applications for reporting potholes, broken glass in the street, graffiti, clogged storm drains, etc. Each report is tagged with GPS coordinates (which the user can precisely choose on a map, to show where exactly the problem is), and can include photos, videos, and text descriptions of the problem. The app then shows all the reports you have submitted, and whether they have been dealt with yet. It's pretty nifty, but it would be even better if non-smartphone users like myself could also submit reports via MMS.

So in other words, WSUS? Currently it's only meant for corporate users, but it would be great if Microsoft would release it as a module for Windows Home Server, so home users could have that functionality.