Desktop Window Manager
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The Desktop Window Manager (abbreviated DWM; previously called Desktop Compositing Engine or DCE) is a Compositing manager introduced with Windows Vista that enables the Windows Aero user interface. Users will need to have a DirectX 9 capable video card to be able to use the Desktop Window Manager. Windows Aero is not available on Windows Vista Home Basic edition, and the Desktop Window Manager is not included at all with the Starter edition.
The Desktop Window Manager is similar to Quartz Compositor in Mac OS X in that applications do not draw directly to screen, but instead draw to off-screen buffers that are then composited by the window manager and displayed on-screen. This allows the window manager to easily create a number of on-screen effects found in Windows Vista. These include translucent window borders which show parts of window content lying beneath and the stacking effect displayed when users switch between applications.
[edit] Windows Flip 3D
Perhaps the best example of how the DWM works is when using Windows Flip 3D. Since windows are 2D entities by design, in order for them to be shown in 3D properly, the 2D rendering needs to be transformed into 3D space. Using off-screen buffers means that the window is only rendered once it has been positioned in the 3D environment, saving excessive processing.
