WindowMaker

Before their was Mac OS X, there was a quirky closed-source UNIX system called NeXTSTEP. The underpinnings of NeXTSTEP were made an open specification by Sun Microsystems, which enabled other projects to create a free and open source version of many libraries and components of NeXT. GNUStep implemented the bulk of the libraries, and WindowMaker implemented the desktop environment.

WindowMaker mimics the NeXTSTEP desktop GUI closely, and provides some interesting insight into what UNIX was like in the late 80s and early 90s. It also reveals some of the foundational concepts behind window managers like Fluxbox and Openbox.

You can install WindowMaker from your distribution's repository. To try it out, log out of your desktop session after the install is complete. By default, your session manager (KDM, GDM, Lightdm, or XDM, depending on your setup) will continue to log you into your default desktop, so you must override the default when logging in.

With GDM:

Selecting your desktop in GDM [IMG]

With KDM:

Selecting your desktop in KDM [IMG]

WindowMaker dock

By default, the WindowMaker desktop is empty but for a few *docks* in each corner. In NeXTSTEP and WindowMaker alike, a dock area was a place where major applications could go to be minimized as an icon, where launchers could be created for quick access to common applications, and where tiny "dockapps" could run.

You can try out a dockapp by searching for "dockapp" in your software repository. They tend to be network and system monitors, audio setting panels, clocks, andsimilar.

WindowMaker running on Fedora [IMG]

Application menu

To access an application menu, right-click anywhere on the desktop. To close it again, right-click. WindowMaker isn't a desktop environment, but a window manager. It helps you arrange and manage windows, and its only bundled application is an application called `WPrefs`, or more commonly **WindowMaker Preferences**. The settings application helps you configure commonly used settings, while the Application menu provides access to other options, including themes.

The applications you run are entirely up to you. You can choose to run KDE applications within WindowMakers, GNOME applications, and applications not considered a part of any major desktop. Your work environment is yours to create, and you can manage it with WindowMaker.