# Recommend a virtual desktop manager for OS X **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-virtual-desktop-manager-for-os-x/405102 "2007-05-22T17:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-virtual-desktop-manager-for-os-x/405102/1 "2007-05-22T17:08:30Z")
[Leopard + “Spaces”](http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/spaces.html) isn’t due out until the fall, and for all of my searching I’m not finding any open source virtual desktop code that has been updated within the past 2 years. The last one I tried didn’t allow me to drag things from one screen to the next, which is a deal-breaker for me. I’ve seen a decent one installed on a former cow-workers MacBook Pro about a year or so ago, but have not been able to find it to save my life. It used the visual of a turning cube when moving from one virtual screen to another. This particular cow-worker did not have his mac tricked out in anyway. No boot camp, no linux. Help? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-virtual-desktop-manager-for-os-x/405102/2 "2007-05-22T17:28:52Z")
I know of just two: Desktop Manager, and Virtue. > **[Desktop Manager OS X (Apple Mac)](https://www.berlios.de/software/desktop-manager/)** > > Diese Software wurde seit vielen Jahren nicht weiter entwickelt. Desktop Manager ein Projekt zur Implementierung eines einfach zu bedienenden virtuellen Desktop-Managers für OS X. Starten Sie einfach die App und ein Pager sollte in der Statusleiste... > **[Home - Virtual Desktops](https://virtuedesktops.info/)** > > Mac remote management provides a convenient and efficient way for administrators or support teams to access and control multiple Mac computers. This powerful feature allows you to monitor, troubleshoot, and make changes to systems without the need... Both of these let you use a turning cube as a visualization (among other things), but neither allow you to drag windows from one desktop to the next - you have to use a keyboard shortcut, or minimize-switch-maximize. I don’t even know of a Unix desktop manager that lets you drag from one desktop to the next, if that’s what you meant - although both of these let you drag windows from one _screen_ to the next (if you have multiple monitors). Development on both of them has ground to a halt, since with the impending release of Leopard there isn’t much point. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-virtual-desktop-manager-for-os-x/405102/3 "2007-05-22T18:32:10Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] I know of just two: Desktop Manager, and Virtue. > **[Desktop Manager OS X (Apple Mac)](https://www.berlios.de/software/desktop-manager/)** > > Diese Software wurde seit vielen Jahren nicht weiter entwickelt. Desktop Manager ein Projekt zur Implementierung eines einfach zu bedienenden virtuellen Desktop-Managers für OS X. Starten Sie einfach die App und ein Pager sollte in der Statusleiste... > **[Home - Virtual Desktops](http://virtuedesktops.info/)** > > Mac remote management provides a convenient and efficient way for administrators or support teams to access and control multiple Mac computers. This powerful feature allows you to monitor, troubleshoot, and make changes to systems without the need... Both of these let you use a turning cube as a visualization (among other things), but neither allow you to drag windows from one desktop to the next - you have to use a keyboard shortcut, or minimize-switch-maximize. I don’t even know of a Unix desktop manager that lets you drag from one desktop to the next, if that’s what you meant - although both of these let you drag windows from one _screen_ to the next (if you have multiple monitors). Development on both of them has ground to a halt, since with the impending release of Leopard there isn’t much point. [/QUOTE] I used WindowMaker on my old Debian and Redhat boxes, and I do not recall having any issues with moving existing windows from one virtual desktop to the next. Seems that I took that functionality for granted as being integral to virtual desktops.