# Compiz

15 Hacker News commenters recommended Compiz and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Compositing window manager that adds wobbly windows, cube desktop and other 3D effects on Linux; people remember it fondly. Critics call the effects a gimmick and say it faded.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun desktop effects and animations (6 comments): "It felt magical to switch between windows and Ubuntu specially with all the compiz animation goodies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48098990)) "compiz was amazing, I remember playing with the wobbly windows for hours" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48735338)) "I think it had KDE with compiz-fusion. That was awesome." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734117))
- Fond memories of the Linux desktop (4 comments): "compiz was amazing, I remember playing with the wobbly windows for hours" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48735338)) "I think it had KDE with compiz-fusion. That was awesome." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734117)) "My own Linux desktop experience peaked with Compiz" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49826773))

## What people warn about

- Dismissed as a flashy gimmick (3 comments): "it turned out to be a passing gimmick that looked flashy but didn’t really add anything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48098524)) "Compiz 3d effects were ultimately a useless gimmick and I predict this is too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48096295)) "Compiz 3d effects were ultimately a useless gimmick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095986))
- Lost momentum, people moved on (2 comments): "lost almost all that additional functionality, as well as most of the momentum it had" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48207895)) "at this point I just don’t miss it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395144))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Hyprland](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyprland.md): 82 recommend
- [Enlightenment window manager](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enlightenment.md): 51 recommend
- [FVWM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fvwm.md): 28 recommend
- [dwm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwm.md): 22 recommend
- [Window Maker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windowmaker.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Compiz", https://hackerapproved.com/p/compiz/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).