A desktop environments for the popular operating systems Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X are, in their intended utilize, comparatively static. This assures the uniform user personal experience. Notwithstanding, there are guide themes & third-person software package that could all vary each a appearance of most common interface elements like windows, buttons & icons and a interface model itself (around Windows this is accomplished by replacing a default Explorer shell).

In systems running off a X Window System (typically Unix systems), the desktop environment is great deal other flexible. In that context, the DE often consists of the window manager, a placed of themes, & software and libraries for managing a desktop. Tons one single modules may be exchanged & singly configured to achieve the unique combination, however virtually all desktop environments provide the default configuration that takes minimum user input.

Non 100% of the program code that is the portion of a DE has results which are then directly seeable to the user. A select few of it can be sale-subordinate code. KDE, for example, will bring and then-supposed io slaves which give the user access to the wide range of virtual hardware. These io slaves are non available outside a KDE environment.

Easily-known desktop environments examples (specially for Unices), include GNOME, KDE, CDE and Xfce; however, the total of more desktop environments besides survive, including (however are non limited to): EDE, UDE, Mezzo, ROX Desktop, GEM, PerlTop, XPde, Xito, IRIX Interactive Desktop and arm0nia.

A few window managers also include elements remindful of victims obtained inside desktop environments, virtually all conspicuously Enlightenment.

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