I’ve recently had the opportunity to use the beryl window manager on my linux gentoo setup. It is simply amazing. You get a highly customizable 3d desktop that, on top of giving you top notch candy (far better than Vista’s in my opinion), makes your jobs easier. How? you ask? it simply makes your brain use its three dimensional location system, which is far more developed than it’s plain thinking mechanism. (It’s far easier to think in terms of space – «below, under, between, etc».
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On top of that, the system is packed with a whole bundle of functionality. You get a scale plugin, similar to x Os’s, which simply displays all the applications you have opened on the screen and lets you choose between them. (this is really useful for me as I am used to having tons of applications running).
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The other incredible gadget is the 3d cube. This lets you access all your workspaces through a 3d environment. It is a really impressive window manager, showing you everything you need and making people around you drop their jaws. How much did I pay for it you ask ? Well, it’s free, as in both :).
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Ultimately, I got the desktop I had always dreamed, with far more functionality than any windows operating system and with the advantage of being free and open source. If your into windows for it being user friendly and graphical… Time to switch :)…