One of the attractive features of Linux is the impressive 3D desktop that even works on most older hardware.
You can enabled the 3D Desktop on CentOS5 by installing the compiz package:
yum install compiz
After you have done this, go to the top panel and click System, then select Preferences > and click 'Desktop Effects.
You will get a new dialog. To test and see if your hardware supports the 3D Desktop, press the button Enable Desktop Effects. If everything works fine, you can select Keep Settings.
Then test your 3D Desktop by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Left and Ctrl-Alt-Right, or drag a window around or even out of the screen to the left or right. If you maximize a window, you will see another cool effect. If you move the mouse to the upper-right corner of the screen you see all your opened applications.Way cool!