Cited on HN 4 times, 2022–2025, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters cite it as the widely seen nostalgic video from the era when Linux desktop effects outpaced Vista.
A 2007 side-by-side demo comparing Windows Vista's Aero interface with Ubuntu running Beryl/Compiz, showing effects such as the desktop cube and burning windows.
“I remember watching it and being awed by the cube effect.” (HN, 2025)
I instinctively expected to hear the notes of "Here Comes the Hotstepper" when I clicked on that video. I was expecting [this video] which was somewhat popular to send around to show comparisons of how Compiz was so far ahead it could not just replicate Vista's interface, but could also better it in some aspects like the famous 3D cube. Thanks to you and others for working on it! Looking at the video almost 15 years later, I feel wistful for the joy that accompanied some of these desktop effects, and wonder where it has gone today.
Popular Compiz versus Vista comparison from the 2000s.
$ yt-dlp -F [this video] [youtube] [this video] Downloading webpage [youtube] [this video] Downloading android player API JSON [info] Available formats for [this video] ID EXT RESOLUTION FPS │ FILESIZE TBR PROTO │ VCODEC VBR ACODEC ABR ASR MORE INFO ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── sb2 mhtml 48x27 │ mhtml │ images storyboard sb1 mhtml 60x45 │ mhtml │ images storyboard sb0 mhtml 120x90 │ mhtml │ images storyboard 139 m4a │ 1.55MiB 47k https │ audio only mp4a.40.5 47k 22050Hz low, m4a_dash 140 m4a │ 4.13MiB 127k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 127k 44100Hz medium, m4a_dash 251 webm │ 4.11MiB 126k https │ audio only opus 126k 48000Hz medium, webm_dash 17 3gp 176x144 8 │ 2.67MiB 82k https │ mp4v.20.3 82k mp4a.40.2 0k 22050Hz 144p 160 mp4 192x144 25 │ 1006.62KiB 30k https │ avc1.4d400b 30k video only 144p, mp4_dash 278 webm 192x144 25 │ 1.70MiB 52k https │ vp9 52k video only 144p, webm_dash 133 mp4 320x240 25 │ 2.01MiB 61k https │ avc1.4d400d 61k video only 240p, mp4_dash 18 mp4 320x240 25 │ 9.42MiB 290k https │ avc1.42001E 290k mp4a.40.2 0k 44100Hz 240p 242 webm 320x240 25 │ 2.81MiB 86k https │ vp9 86k video only 240p, webm_dash None of these will be the format it was originally uploaded in, but I’d guess format 133 (~61 kbps) to be the closest for the video part, at 2MB. Judging by the sound of it, the original audio bit rate was probably higher than the video bit rate!
"Here comes the hotstepper..." ( see [link] for context linking to a popular video [this video] from 2007 demoing some cube effects alongside burning windows and such.)
Popular 2007 video demoing cube effects and burning windows.
Compiz. Beryl. Compiz Fusion. Unlocks some fun memories. Also this video has some 6 million views now: [this video] . I remember watching it and being awed by the cube effect.
Nostalgic cube effect video with millions of views.
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