---
title: Some Eye Candy for Linux
date: 2004-08-26T22:13:50Z
modified: 2004-08-26T22:13:50Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2004/08/26/some-eye-candy-for-linux/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 49
categories:
  - Linux
timestamp: 2004-08-26T22:13:50Z
tags:
  - Linux
---

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the new version of X, X11R6.8. Some of the new features – like [Damage Extension](http://freedesktop.org/Software/XDamage) and [Composite Extension](http://freedesktop.org/Software/CompositeExt) give the Linux UI new abilities. Such as? Check out the [screenshots](http://freedesktop.org/XOrg/X11R68ScreenShots) for some translucency, transparency, and drop shadows. (FYI, I am aware that I could build this from CVS right now; but for my production laptop at least, I need to stick with stable builds.)

Eye candy isn’t all that material to enterprise decision-making, of course, but nor does it hurt to have something (particularly during demos) that looks “pretty.” This is well illustrated by the omnipresence of Sun’s [Project Looking Glass](http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/) – a sweet piece of eye candy if ever there was one – at every event that they run.

Pretty may not mean much on an RFP, but as any implementer knows – users _like_ things that look good, and as result, looks do count.

**UPDATE**: Great interview with freedesktop.org’s Daniel Stone at Ars Technica [here](http://arstechnica.com/etc/linux/linux.ars-20040825-2.html) with explanations for most of the above. You can get the scoop straight from the horses mouth, as it were.