A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the hottest thing in the Linux world was XGL and Compiz. Together, they brought things into our desktop world the likes of which we’d never seen before. They were the messiahs, coming to lead us into the promised land named desktop dominance.

Support for the revolution mounted quickly, as the open source community threw it’s entire weight into the cogwheel. Unfortunately, this movement, like so many others, was beset with internal strife.

It began with doctrine, as it so often does. The members of the AIGLX tribe argued that the underpinnings of XGL did not hold true to open source philosophies, and denied their siblings heritage and legitimacy. To make matters worse, others, such as nVidians, claimed to have the same answers, yet needed neither XGL or AIGLX.

Meanwhile, Compiz was growing organically, particularly an underground movement following one known as Quinnstorm. This faction soon became frustrated with the mainstream’s inability to accept their fanaticism and decided to secede. Soon Beryl was born.

With all the dissension, newcomers were understandably confused. Should they use Compiz with XGL? Compiz with AIGLX? Beryl with just the nVidia drivers?

But perhaps that’s all at an end. After weeks of deliberation, it appears that the Beryl and Compiz camps have decided to once again unite under the name Compiz Fusion.

You can find out more at http://www.opencompositing.org/.