20thCenturyBoy,
Here are some Ubuntu 7.10 (newest version) pics (all courtesy of Compiz Fusion).
Ring Task Switcher:
Water Ripple Effect:
Cube Effect:
Wobbly Window Effect:
Closing Program Fading Effect;
Fire Effect (I had a lot going on in the background, and only a moderate GPU, so there's a bit of distortion):
100% free of charge and the earliest rendition of all of these effects were in place with OSS years before Vista grabbed hold of them. This is a small sample of still images of what can be done with Fusion. IMHO, Vista's eye-candy doesn't even come close to what Fusion can do.