MWM is a lightweight window manager, having robust compliance and configuration of the features it has. MWM first appeared in the early 1990s, along with the Motif toolkit. MWM supports: Common User Interface (i.e., Alt-Tab is switch windows, a standard), some International support, Common Desktop Environment, X Resource Database (/home/app-defaults/ and runtime), X Session Manager protocol, X Edited Resource Protocol (edit widget data), desktop icons, optional use of images to decorate, and had supported Virtual desktop (removed since 2.1) but now supports non-virtual desktop panning. MWM is a window manager, not a full desktop environment, so it only manages windows; it is expected that configuration, programs, sound, are provided by other programs. A plain text file is parsed to customize menus, user input mappings, management features, and user made functions of the same.

Originally, MWM and Motif could only be purchased. The same software was also available as OpenMotif, though not on properly open-source or free software terms. In late 2012, Motif and MWM were released under the LGPL-2.1-or-later license as free software.^{[citation needed]}

• FVWM
• Visual User Environment

• SourceForge: Motif (source code)
• SourceForge: Motif 2.0 build libXm.so.2.0.n (Data Display Debugger uses 2.0) with easier automake and optional panner
• Open Motif project page at the Wayback Machine (archived June 30, 2006)
• The Motif FAQ at the Wayback Machine (archived February 2, 2020)
• Motif: Volumes 6A and 6B (O'Reilly and Associates, free PDF downloads)
• Motif User's Guide at the Wayback Machine (archived May 30, 2014)