Desktop Earth allows you to display a globe or map on your desktop that moves according to the time, either keeping your location centered with light changing to show the relative position of the sun, or showing from the sun's perspective with the earth rotating or moving by.

The new version has been released, dubbed appropriately Desktop Earth 2.0. In the new version, the imagery is based on NASA's Blue Marble Next and Earth's City Lights, and is generated from very high-resolution textures (2560x1280).