The ROX Desktop is a lightweight alternative to GNOME or KDE built around the ROX-Filer file manager. It's performance is reminiscent of IceWM, and it's noticeably faster opening programs than GNOME or KDE. However, its speed comes at the expense of a needlessly redundant default configuration, and some users may balk at some of the assumptions its design makes about how they prefer to work.

ROX Desktop provides light, quirky alternative to GNOME and KDE