Why wait for Leopard? Get a virtual desktop manager now

Mac publicatio are all taking a new eye to the a and features that Leopard is 'killing,' and Dan's post about the 7 a that Leopard kills i ired me to check out the current market of virtual desktop managers for Mac OS X. Since I'm on a MacBook Pro however, the only one I could really put through the ringer was VirtueDeskto , which is fine since it seems like a feature-packed and very capable virtual desktop manager. Hence, another post in an ongoing theme here at TUAW: Why wait for Leopard?

While we didn't get a full shakedown of aces at WWDC 2006, VirtueDeskto seems to offer the same functionality, with quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Barb blogged VirtueDeskto in February 2005, but it has certainly come a ways since then. It still offers a basic set of four deskto with the ability to add more, and it's very keyboard shortcut-friendly. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of this highly customizable desktop manger:

• Eye candy - a wide variety of the standard Aqua tra itio are available for switching between deskto . This alone is worth showing off to friends, even if you aren't into the multiple desktop thing
  
• A leScript-able
• Exte ible with plugi
• Works with Growl to let you know which desktop you've switched to (you can name them for better organization and recognition)
• Sticky windows and a - you can bind a to one desktop or another, or ecify them to show on all deskto . This is handy, for example, if Mail.a is 'stuck' to a 'Communication' desktop. Clicking on Mail.a in the dock will automatically switch to the required desktop

There's even more to this virtual desktop utility, and since Leopard is taking a while to cook, why not check it out? VirtueDeskto is donationware and a Universal Binary.