Virtue Desktops: A virtual desktop manager for Mac OS X

Originally downloaded 6/10/06. Last year, I tried out the various virtual desktop tools that were available, and VirtueDesktops was the best as I recall. I never got around to trying YouControl Desktops, because my hard disk got corrupted shortly after installing it. (Not sure if that’s a comment on the software or not… however, a friend had a similar experience recently. I haven’t been brave enough to try it since.) With Parallels Workstation coming down the pike, I thought it was time to take another look at the whole concept of virtual desktops again. Previously, my opinion was that, while cool, the products didn’t work well enough to ensure a really seamless experience, and I kept having to worry about which desktop had which apps running (and which windows of which apps), and it wasn’t easy to switch that arrangement around. Virtue is free and open source, native Cocoa, and based on DesktopManager, an earlier project whose development stalled early last year.

Update 12/23/06. No, thanks… I’ve come to the conclusion that virtual desktops are an idea whose time has passed. See my ruminations on the subject, as well as specific notes on You Control:Desktops, in the December 2006 article, “Leopard’s Spaces: Virtual Desktops for the Rest of Us?”

Version as tested: 0.53 r260a.