X in X 

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X In X

The good thing about X is that it's not a GUI. X can't show you a single pixel. X is only a network protocol. You need an X server to actually show things on your screen and read your input devices. And, naturally, a few weird arrangements can be made. Here's one. It uses the Nested X server. This server runs under another server (hence ‘nested’), displaying a desktop within a window. You can run whatever you like in there, of course.

Here's my tribute to one of the prettiest user interfaces ever: Sun's late OpenLook. Within the nested X server runs the OpenLook Virtual Window Manager, a terminal emulator, emacs 21 (a plain X application, not OpenLook) and Workman, still my favourite CD player. OpenLook is modern, incredibly clean and has a tiny memory footprint.

It's a pity Sun killed OpenLook, one of those rare different GUI styles. Even more of a pity considering OpenLook's replacement was Motif, a Windows 3.1 lookalike.

By the way, the Nested X Server is by far not useless. It comes in very handy as a sandbox for testing new X clients. You can do whatever you like, and the worst that will happen is the nested server will die.