I have returned from my travels to the City That Never Sleeps, and am now safely ensconced in my little home office deep in the Midwest, all snug and toasty.

My only regret of LinuxWorld is that I did not get to meet Micro-flack Doug Miller, who apparently spoke with every (non-Linux) reporter in the Javitts Center. What? Did he think we'd be biased? Go figure....

Now that I am home, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of some Desktop housekeeping. To start: once again, I am backing up the alphabetical look at X window managers. I have two good reasons for this reversal: I inadvertently missed the UDE window manager, which I will examine next week, and I got a great online interview with Tom LaStrange, which I will relate to you in a moment.

My other housekeeping news is this: I have been told that due to my incredible lack of originality, "From the Desktop" has already been taken by several other Internet columns on the Web. So, after 35 FTDs, the time has come for a name change. I offered to take "Rant Mode Equals One" off of Paul Ferris' hands, but that is only in the event of his death, so I am not holding my breath for that one. Suggestions are welcome, but hold off on "Freakshow" and "Monkey Boy," please. To sweeten the pot: the person with the best suggestion will get a free boxed copy of the Linux distribution of their choice (personal editions only).

We now return you to your regular From the Desktop, already in progress.

Next: Talking with a Man Named Tom »