Ubuntu Unleashed 2014 Edition: Covering 13.10 and 14.04,Ninth Edition

Desktop Environment

Traditionally, a GUI for computers has used a desktop metaphor; specifically the interface uses the idea of a physical office desk as a metaphor to make interacting with the computer simple to comprehend. As in a real-world office, a computer desktop environment uses files to store documents that contain information that is necessary for office tasks to be done. Computer systems take the metaphor further by adding applications, programs that enable users to create, manipulate, and delete those documents as needed, much as might be done in the real world, but with greater efficiency and often with greater power.

A computer desktop includes a windowing system, another metaphoric way to deal with information that makes conceptualizing ...