CDE
The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) is a graphical user interface that serves as the default desktop in AIX systems. CDE, which you can customize, provides services to system administrators, application developers, and end users in a consistent fashion across multiple platforms. CDE allows you to open multiple desktops in a highly reliable and stable environment. Each desktop can then run multiple independent applications without interfering with the operations of the other three.
KDE
The K Desktop Environment (KDE) is also available as part of Linux Affinity and the free AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications. This open-source graphical desktop is built on top of the X11 environment for UNIX operating systems.
KDE contains a compound application development framework, which hosts a large collection of applications. The KDE-Graphics application features Kpaint, Kdvi, KGhostview, and Kfax. KDE-Admin provides the tools needed for system administrators, while Klibs provides various run-time libraries such as kdcore, kdeui, and khtwm. Opportunities for customization abound with the extremely flexible KDE user interface.
GNOME
The GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) desktop is also available as part of Linux Affinity and the free AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications (ATLA). GNOME—a powerful application framework for software development—is highly configurable, allowing you to set the desktop's look and feel to suit your preference.
Applications available for use with GNOME include Qt, a cross-platform C++ application framework; GLib, a library for the C language containing portability and utility functions; and GTK, a container-based tool kit.