I’ve always been a fan of virtual desktops, dating way back to my PC days. Being able to organize desktops by work task has just been a huge time saver for me and really, I don’t know how I would work without one.

After using Desktop Manager on my Mac for the last 2 years or so, I recently found and switched over to using VirtueDesktops instead. Why? Number of reasons actually:

• Applications can be bound to a specific desktop. This means that when VirtueDesktops comes up, my Mail App is already on my “Mail” desktop, TextMate is already on my “Code” desktop, and Firefox is already on my “Web” desktop. This was something I had to do manually with Desktop Manager
• Clicking an Application on the dock automatically switches to the desktop that App is on.
• Actively developed. I haven’t seen a new version of Desktop Manager in over a year!

This is not to say VirtueDesktops isn’t without its flaws. I find it to be less stable then Desktop Manager, though its core functionality seems to be pretty solid. It’s little things such as text not updating, buttons not responding, and slightly inconsistent UI that tarnishes its otherwise excellent execution.

The latest version can be found here.