Window Maker
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 30 window managers by recommenders
Free, simple and stylish Linux window manager that people have used for years. Main caveat: critics say it is no longer actively developed.
Free, simple and stylish Linux window manager that people have used for years. Main caveat: critics say it is no longer actively developed.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 21 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple, stylish, distraction-free look
“Simple, effective, stylish without getting in the way.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16” “This is enjoyably distraction free.”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “School cell phone bans and student achievement” Long-time favourite used for years
“I adopted WindowMaker on my Linux machines, and kept to it for some years”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence” “Window Maker/AfterStep were my all time favourites in GNU/Linux world.”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Pop_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC desktop environment” “I still have fond memories of olwm, AfterStep, and WindowMaker”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Direct Win32 API, Weird-Shaped Windows, and Why They Mostly Disappeared” - Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”
Attractive NeXTSTEP-style visuals
“I always loved that purple/slate blue colour of WindowMaker/GNUStep/NeXTSTEP.”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Desktopcolors.com – A museum for solid background colors of classic OS” “windowmaker+gnustep+gap for nice visuals”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “KDE Plasma 6.7 Released” Powerful simplicity that just works
“I forgot how amazing it was and how much it just work.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)” “missed its powerful simplicity”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No longer actively developed
“It would be great if Windowmaker was still being actively developed”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “KDE turns 30 and someone's brought an AI-native desktop proposal” “windowmaker no longer being actively developed”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “XFCE Is Great”
Other window managers people recommend
The four most recommended other window managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyprland | 82 | 33 | 71% | 12 | 1 mo4 owners | Approved |
| Rectangle for macOS | 67 | 3 | 96% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Enlightenment window manager | 51 | 19 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| FVWM | 28 | 4 | 88% | 8 | 25 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Window MakerThis page | 21 | 1 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
23 of the 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I have fond memories of running”
“Don't need to be so drastic, XFCE, Afterstep, windowmaker, Openbox, Enlightment”
“It would be great if Windowmaker was still being actively developed”
“I always loved that purple/slate blue colour of WindowMaker/GNUStep/NeXTSTEP.”
“windowmaker+gnustep+gap for nice visuals”
“Window Maker is still really cool!”
“I would vote for afterstep, windowmaker, original GNOME with sawmill, and KDE”
“missed its powerful simplicity”
“works much better over X displays on high latency networks”
“I used (and still use) Window Maker for almost a decade”
“I still have fond memories of olwm, AfterStep, and WindowMaker”
“Simple, effective, stylish without getting in the way.”
“one of the features I really liked was the ability to shrink a window to an icon”
“I seem to get the same performance when I use WindowMaker”
“windowmaker no longer being actively developed”
“Window Maker/AfterStep were my all time favourites in GNU/Linux world.”
“it didn't strike me as radically different a desktop from everything else”
“it installs and runs fine also on a Pinebook Pro”
“It's painful how good WindowMaker could've been”
“This is enjoyably distraction free.”
“I adopted WindowMaker on my Linux machines, and kept to it for some years”
“I do not have any choice between having security fixes or using a GUI that i am comfortable with - i get to have both.”
“I forgot how amazing it was and how much it just work.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.