risky because switching back to what you already know is simple.Desktop Environment
Traditionally, a GUI for computers has used a desktop metaphor; specifically,
the interface uses the idea of a physical office desk as a metaphor to make
interacting with the computer simple to comprehend. As in a real-world
office, a computer desktop environment uses files to store documents that
contain information that is necessary for office tasks to be done. Computer
systems take the metaphor further by adding applications, programs that
enable users to create, manipulate, and delete those documents as needed,
much as might be done in the real world, but with greater efficiency and often
with greater power.
A computer desktop includes a windowing system, another metaphoric way to
deal with information that makes conceptualizing the complexity occurring
behind the scenes in the digital realm easier. Files, folders (or directories), and
applications open in a graphic display that may be moved around the user’s
desktop just as paper documents and file folders may be moved to different
locations on a physical desktop for convenience and efficiency. This
windowing system includes the graphical bits (called widgets) needed to draw
the windows on the screen and all the program code needed to perform the
actions desired behind the scenes while displaying those actions using the
pretty metaphor. For example, moving a document from one folder to another
on a desktop involves little more than a mouse click followed by a drag and
drop. Behind the scenes, the desktop environment is listening to the window
manager’s instructions to move a file from one directory to another and then
telling the window manager to draw the event on the screen as it is
accomplished.
The Ubuntu software repositories include all the popular desktop
environments available for Linux and make installing and trying them out
easy to do. It is also possible for an adventurous person to find other desktop
environments that will work on Ubuntu and download and install them. We
don’t cover that process here.
It is also possible to use one desktop environment while substituting a
different window manager into that environment instead of using the one that
comes with the desktop environment by default. For example, the standard
GNOME window manager is called Mutter. It is stable and works quite well.
Other interfaces may use different window managers, such as Compiz. To
make matters more interesting, you can replace either of those with other
window managers such as Enlightenment, which does things in a unique and