I split my time fairly evenly between Windows (XP & Vista) and Linux (primarily Ubuntu) environments so I have a fair amount of experience with both. Each have their merits and drawbacks but the main thing I felt Windows was missing that seems to come as standard in most if not all Linux distributions is the multiple workspaces option.Call me picky, but I can’t handle cluttered taskbars bursting with programs, but as is often the way I’ve got a bunch of things open at once through necessity at work so the ability to divide the various programs across multiple desktops is very useful.

After having this thought at the back of my mind for far too long, I finally got around to searching for something that would replicate this functionality in Windows and came across the Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager yesterday. I’ve not had it long but it stood the test of an extremely busy day yesterday, managing to handle 22+ programs open at once and switching around frequently between workspaces.

I’m currently running it on Windows Vista Enterprise on a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC w/ 2GB RAM. I plan to test it out on a lower spec’d machine soon - I’ll update here once that’s happened. As the name suggests, the software is capable of running on both Vista and XP.

So with only two days usage down, I’m happy to say I’m sold on this free software. It’s exactly what I was looking for and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone finding themselves in the same situation I often do. Feel free to leave your experiences with the software below, or share any other useful programs you’ve taken a shine to.