Beryl
From LinuxReviews
Beryl is a advanced 3D desktop window manager which looks extremely fancy. It places virtual desktops on a cube, "wobbles" the windows when they are moved, makes windows explode or burn when they are closed/opened, and much, much more.
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[edit] The cube
All modern window managers allow you to have virtual desktops who each have their own set of applications. Beryl allows you switch between these desktops using a rotating cube. This alone makes Beryl look very impressive. Beryl's default settings gives you a four-sided cube. But it doesn't have to be, Beryl also allows you to have, say, nine virtual desktops on your cube. The standard setting puts you outside the cube, but it's also possible to view it from the inside. Additionally, you can make your background (the wallpaper) transparent and view the other sites of the cube in the background.
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| Nine-sided Beryl cube | Inside a four-sided cube |
The cube feature alone is a good reason to take a look at Beryl. But that's just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg if you will.
[edit] Wobble wobble
Beryl can make your windows "wobble" when you move them. It also adds fancy effects when windows are opened and closed. Basically, it's so fancy it's almost redicilous. This is what it looks like when one of these effects are taking place while the cube rotates:
[edit] Bugs
It must be noted that Beryl is still in very heavy development. It does crash from time to time. It's not "stable" software.
However, there are various branches available. The development trees are, like all other software, divided between more fancy and less stable and less fancy and less likely to crash.
[edit] Productivity
As for getting things done: Very simple window-managers such as Fluxbox allow you to work fast and do the job you are supposed to do.
Beryl, on the other hand, isn't something that makes you very .. efficient or productive. It's more of a .. toy. It does make using your computer extremely fun. It will impress everyone who's using the latest version of that other OS with NSA backdoors. Beryl even allows you to impress hot blond chicks (hot redheads, on the other hand, are not so impressed).
