Window mangers were always something I needed to switch after some time. I started with E16, had a short period with windowmaker, afterwards a long time with fluxbox and then gnome.

I switched to gnome because I liked to have a more integrated desktop. Having this smooth experience that all stuff just works. It turned out that it did not helped as much as I wanted it.

I don't use Evolution, I use mutt. I don't use the gnome-terminal, I use xterms. I think you get the picture. After looking more closely what stuff I really use from my gnome desktop there was not much left. Some app starter in the panel, 2-3 applets, well I think that's it.

As I have worked with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries lately and I liked what I found I decided to give E17 a go. Fresh from CVS.

I now have just a small shelf, panel thingy, with 6 app starters, volume, time, date and battery gadgets / applets. Next to it a small stalonetray for systray icons. That's all.

I've won faster startup times, some small but nice eye-candy stuff. Not to much to distract me from work but enough to keep the joy of use.

Another big plus is the brand new tiling module. It makes window placement more efficient as it allows you to define how windows are placed on different virtual desktops. No more overlapping windows you have to place right yourself with a mice or similar. The whole space is used, nothing wasted. I use this for my hacking workspaces. Open more and more xterms and don't worry about a sane placement. Great. I wanted something like that since Harald showed me something similar with his ion3 setup on his laptop. :)