Emerge Desktop!

The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" is an extremely fast-performing and energy-saving desktop environment. Maintained by an international community of developers, it comes with a beautiful interface, multi-language support, standard keyboard short cuts and additional features like tabbed file browsing. LXDE uses less CPU and less RAM than other environments. It is especially designed for cloud computers with low hardware specifications, such as, netbooks, mobile devices (e.g. MIDs) or older computers. LXDE can be installed with distributions like Ubuntu or Debian. It provides a fast desktop experience; connecting easily with applications in the cloud. LXDE supports a wealth of programs that can be installed locally with Linux systems. The source code of LXDE is licensed partly under the terms of the the General Public License and partly under the LGPL. »

VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system (Win9x/ME/NT/Win2K/XP/Win2003/Vista/Win7/Win10). A virtual desktop manager lets you organize applications over several virtual desktops (also called ‘workspaces’). Virtual desktops are very common in Unix/Linux, and once you get accustomed to using them, they become an essential part of a productive workflow.

LXQt is the Qt port and the upcoming version of LXDE, the Lightweight Desktop Environment. It is the product of the merge between the LXDE-Qt and the Razor-qt projects: A lightweight, modular, blazing-fast and user-friendly desktop environment.

Cairo Shell is a replacement shell for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Like other shell alternatives, it replaces the default Windows Shell. Cairo Shell will be free to download and use when it is released.

Elokab Desktop Environment is an open-source independent desktop environment for Linux which uses QT libraries like KDE .

Bluetile is a tiling window manager for Linux, designed to integrate with the GNOME desktop environment. It provides both a traditional, stacking layout mode as well as tiling layouts where windows are arranged to use the entire screen without overlapping. Bluetile tries to make the tiling paradigm easily accessible to users coming from traditional window managers by drawing on known conventions and providing both mouse and keyboard access for all features.

bug.n is a tiling window manager add-on for Microsoft Windows. It is written in the scripting language AutoHotkey.What it can do

SharpEnviro (or SharpE) is an open source shell replacement system for Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. When using SharpEnviro the default Windows desktop is replaced by a new and more powerful desktop environment. The goal of SharpEnviro is not only to create a user friendly desktop environment which provides many advanced and modern desktop features, but to also create a desktop environment which is easily configurable and which you can customise to your needs. You can decide how your desktop will look like and how it will work – adjust your desktop environment to work like you want it to. »

LiteStep is a replacement desktop interface for Windows.

BB4Win (Blackbox for Windows) is an alternative shell for Microsoft Windows. The program aims to emulate the look and feel of a Linux based desktop. The BB4Win project was discontinued in 2005 but various branches have been built from the source. BB4Win's primary feature is speed. The interface is designed for minimalism to provide basic desktop functionality without wasting system resources on "bloated" or needless features. There are many plug-ins and hundreds of themes available to change the look of your desktop. »

bbLean is the lean version of Blackbox for Windows. It tries to keep balance between features and complexity, to give you some efficient means within a compact shell.

Talisman Desktop is a configurable Windows shell replacement introduced in 1997 by Lighttek Software. It is available in a number of languages including English, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian. Talisman Desktop is shareware, available as a free trial download that expires in 30 days. The registration fee for continued use is 25 USD.