Yod’m 3D by Chris ‘Soft is a free virtual desktop manager which mimics the 3D functionality of Beryl by “spinning” your desktops in a cube-like rotation.  This software utilizes DirectX 9 to force your desktop into a cube but does not require that awesome of a video card.

I chose this desktop manager over the others merely for the fancy footwork displayed while changing desktops giving one the illusion of multiple desktops.  Other desktop managers merely show windows, and hide others giving you the impression you are switching.  The inclusion of a mapping of the desktops on a cube allows the user to believe there are more desktops.

Other notable features include:

• Hotkey activation for zooming to the cube view, switching between desktops and moving windows between desktops.
• Individualized settings per desktop (background picture, icons)

Obviously, since this software is still in its infancy (and Windows being closed source), many bugs and things which aren’t possible do exist.  You should not attempt to switch desktops while playing a DirectX game.  Pure Windows functions aren’t properly virtualized (e.g. Pressing the ‘Start’ button to get your Start Menu and switching your desktop shows the Start Menu on each desktop).

Nonetheless, this is an excellent piece of software and well worth the price (did I mention it’s free?).