Compiz was probably the single most impactful event for desktop linux of the mid 2000's. Not that it itself made much of a difference, but the ripples affect many areas we take for granted today. A few reasons:
- it put linux ahead of windows and mac in terms of appearance;
- it brought many new users and most were a good mix technical and enthusiasts;
- it showed the advantages of modular software;
- many plugins were useful and these useful plugins influenced desktops to this day;
- it was fast, stable and cool enough;
- it brought many new developers;
- it was an incentive for vendors to improve 3d linux drivers;
- it made X.Org developers improve redirection,
- it came by default on the most popular distro from 2006 to 2012.
Yes, most of the effects were useless but even they helped developers and designers to decide what not to include or do in the future. It pioneered useful things like selecting an area of the screen and saving it directly to a file, useful zoom and quick visualization of non-visible windows. It also showed how important compositing was on the desktop. Although probably not in direct influence, there is a reason android, wayland and whatever comes with ChromeOS all have compositing features.
At the time, there was some interesting developments and experimentation: métisse, sun's looking glass, bumptop, deskgallery... none of them was as successful as compiz. I'm proud I was myself part of it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X9bcrJ3TjY) and have my name written in some of its source files to this day, even if almost nobody use it anymore.
At the time, there was some interesting developments and experimentation: métisse, sun's looking glass, bumptop, deskgallery... none of them was as successful as compiz. I'm proud I was myself part of it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X9bcrJ3TjY) and have my name written in some of its source files to this day, even if almost nobody use it anymore.