Xfce

From openSUSE

Xfce is a free software desktop environment based on the GIMP Toolkit (GTK+ 2.x) and aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use. "Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources." (Olivier Fourdan, creator)

In comparison with other desktop environments it has some major advantages:

The Xfce desktop loads quickly and Xfce applications are built with an emphasis on lightness.
Its configuration is entirely mouse-driven.
The window manager of Xfce, Xfwm, integrates its own compositing manager.
Xfce provides a development framework for creating your own Xfce applications.

There are third-party programs which use the Xfce libraries, most notably Mousepad Text Editor, xfmedia audio player and a terminal emulator.

The name Xfce originally stood for "XForms Common Environment", but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit any more. The name survived, but it is no longer capitalized as XFce, but Xfce. The current developers stance is that the acronym doesn't stand for anything any more but some people label the description for Xfce as the "Cholesterol Free Desktop Environment".

Thunar is the default file manager for Xfce. It resembles Nautilus and is designed for speed and a low memory footprint as well as being highly customizable through plugins.