Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.
Xfce pronounced “Ecks Eff See Eee”, is about a desktop environment providing simple and intuitive tools!
Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use; thereby directly increasing productivity.
Xfce 4 embodies the goal of the traditional unix philosophy of modularity and reusability. It consists of a number of components that together provide the full functionality of the desktop environment. Many are packaged separately and you can pick and choose from the available packages to create the best personal working environment.
Another priority of Xfce 4 is adherence to standards, specifically those defined at freedesktop.org.
Xfce 4 can be installed on several UNIX platforms. It is known to compile on linux, netbsd, freebsd, openbsd, solaris, cygwin and macosx, on x86, ppc, sparc, Alpha…
History
Olivier Fourdan started the project in 1996. The name Xfce originally stood for XForms Common Environment, but since then, Xfce was rewritten twice and doesn't use XForms toolkit anymore. The name survived, but the F is nolonger capitalized (not “XFce”, but “Xfce”). Currently the acronym doesn't stand for anything (suggestion: X Freakin' Cool Environment).
Sources and more information
