XGL/Compiz?

[Rackerz]

I've been reading up on it and it sounds pretty good. Everyone says how cool it is, so can somebody tell me the main 'coolness' and what is so good about it?

[Stealth]

http://compiz.blogspot.com/2006/03/introduction-to-compizxgl.html

[hizaguchi]

People can tell you that it makes your desktop run faster and smoother. Or that it enables some really awesome window effects and full transparency. Or that it sticks your virtual desktops onto the faces of a cube that rotates are you switch desks. But you won't understand until you try it yourself: Kororaa (http://kororaa.org/)

[Andrew-buntu]

Everyone says how cool it is, so can somebody tell me the main 'coolness' and what is so good about it?

The main coolness - wobbly windows. oh, and the F12 thing that lays all your windows out. Fantastic.
Sucks that opengl games and Xv video playback don't work. Although mplayer with the -vo gl2 option looks very good, it's not quite as solid in my experience.

[Blondie]

Download this ISO to a disc and boot with it.
http://kororaa.org/static.php?page=static060318-181203

Never mind what people say about it. That's just words. Try it yourself. This is a LiveCD demo - no effort or touching the command line required.

[vayu]

If you find the difference between an artistically done website vs a commercial ad plastered one is important then you will probably appreciate XGL/Compiz.

I find it very important.

I have always been disappointed that the FOSS DE environments have lacked a certain smoothness and an operative elegance. The way windows opened, closed, moved and re-sized was always a little clunky to me. The placement of opening windows drove me nuts. When I open a new window, typically I want that to be my focal point, that's why I just opened it. I never liked the way they opened up in the very upper left corner of the screen with Gnome or KDE (KDE has settings to change that, but those weren't quite right either).

Windows XP did have some UI smoothness that I found lacking with the three major FOSS DE's I've used (Gnome, KDE, XFCE).

Mac OS X, has an incredible feeling of refinement to the way the GUI feels. While I have issues with its lack of functionality (like you can only resize windows from the lower right corner), it just feels good to use.

Meanwhile I found the underlying OS of Linux and FreeBSD sophisticated. I felt I was always compromising in one way or another, I have a strong visual side.

XGL/Compiz changes that for me. I now am using a desktop environment that not only is as smooth and elegant as Windows and even Mac, it's better. The windows are drop-shadowed, they have pleasing animations when they open and close. The placement of them is natural.

The 3D rotating desktop and the wobbly windows are probably the most flashy aspects and for me the least important (I still can't decide if I even like the wobbly windows).

The overall feel of using it just makes me enjoy working with it. I really can't believe how overnight I installed Dapper and XGL/Compiz and I now have a computer that surpasses OS X and Win XP on all fronts. And it's stable!

[Blondie]

The 3D rotating desktop and the wobbly windows are probably the most flashy aspects and for me the least important (I still can't decide if I even like the wobbly windows).

I've actually found the 3D desktop to be useful and more intuitive than the normal virtual desktops despite it's uber eye candy status. Wobbly windows are good for a laugh but I don't keep them on.