Hi,
after reading Norman's list for second time, I think it covers also 90% of my needs. One thing I'd like to add is an IM client for Jabber as I use this features regularly at work and privately.
Additionally, I'd definitely boost the priority of the tiling window manager with native support for graphical and textual (terminal) clients. This feature entered my worklife step by step over the last years. First, I used Terminator as a tiling/tabbing terminal emulator and then Ion3/Notion as real tiling/tabbing window manager. Now, I'm able to completely concentrate the solution of the task at hand not which window is in the way of it.
Optionally, the list could be extended by my favourite MUA mutt.
Greets