XGL – Alternative to Windows Aero
It seems to me that a lot of people like Windows Vista because of the eye-candy Windows Aero that is included in the new OS, well there are alternatives and these are seen in most major releases of Linux including Mandriva, Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
XGL seems to be the main one with Beryl and AIGLX coming in second and third, these provide a whole array of effects including a rotating cube of the 4 desktops, this looks mint, I cannot wait to show this off to my mates at college. Other effects include things like wobbly windows and adding a rain effect over your desktop, you can see these by typing in XGL in YouTube or look at the videos below:
Example of XGL
Example of AIGLX
Example of Beryl
I’ll be honest, this is one of the main reasons why I wanted to convert, besides the price and commercial aspect to Microsoft software. It just looks great, I prefer XGL over the other two but any of them will really make my experience with Linux much more appealing.
Hope I’m not being too pedantic, but I think you’ve made a category error here, XGL and AIGLX aren’t actaully window managers themselves, they are means by which Beryl uses your graphics hardware. All three videos are showing Beryl.
It’s Beryl/Compiz, Looking Glass, and Metisse that are the actual window/desktop managers that are providing these effects, they often *use* XGL or AIGLX to do make it happen.
Anyway, welcome to Linux, hope you have fun