Re:Composite (Score 1)

The composite module within X is far surpassed by both Beryl and Compiz. It does essentially what you were guessing it does: it provides rudimentary (read: buggy) transparency and layering effects, however it does so very inefficiently and even on modern graphics cards it tends to look a bit antiquated. This merger between Beryl and Compiz has been a long time coming and there really never should have been a fork in the two projects. Both teams putting their heads together means even greater leaps and bounds can and will be achieved on the Linux desktop and will hopefully catapult the idea of the Linux desktop even further ahead of Windows than it already is. Windows touts flash and glitz and said "Linux doesn't have this." The Beryl/Compiz devs essentially said "orly?" and you have what you see today - two extensions that look and preform far more efficiently even on older gfx hardware. Beryl runs like a champ on an old Geforce 4600 Ti and Compiz is no slouch either. A merger between these two teams would mean endless possibilities.