OSNews

(WIMP = Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing devices)

Screenshots are overrated, IMO. A pretty-looking desktop can be awkward to use (and it usually is). For example, you won't find any screenshots of the Ratpoison window manager at shots.osdir.com although Ratpoison is one of the simplest and easiest to use window managers available. Ratpoison just doesn't fit well into the "desktop" metaphor -- it doesn't look pretty but it's fast, it doesn't need much RAM, and it makes your work more efficient (it can also make playing games more efficient ;-). Ratpoison's job is simply to manage windows and it does that very well.

If I was to introduce GNU/Linux to newbies, I'd show them how to use Ratpoison. All the "desktop environments" for GNU/Linux seem to imitate Mac and MS Windows. Yes, they're becoming pretty good in this imitation but I still think that many newbies would find Ratpoison's approach to managing windows quite refreshing if they only had the courage to try it. But I don't expect that Ratpoison will ever become very popular because people are always afraid to try new and different approaches, even if these new approaches are actually better than the old ones. Also, people generally prefer to look at pretty pictures rather than be efficient.

Nevertheless, I thought that this "pretty desktop screenshots" thread might be a good place to remind people that there are also alternative approaches available. Try Ratpoison, you might actually like it very much -- even if it's no good for making pretty desktop screenshots. ;-)

http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/