Re: About the future of X (Windows)

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

On Fri, 2003-03-21 at 02:25, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> -- X.org has abdicated control over the future direction of X11; not
>    formally, but by means of inactivity.  All innovation is now 
>    de facto in the hands of XFree86 and related developers/projects.

False. Most of the innovation is coming from Keith, and from other
organisations outside of XFree86.

> Much if this is relevent to Gnome and to KDE.  Gnome does depend on 
> X11, and Gnome would benefit from lots of lively innovation in X11.
> Gnome should side with the forces pushing for innovation and
> responsiveness and growth.

Also false (DirectFB for example)

> But the tangled issue of 'what is the future of X11, and who controls
> it' really really is important, and its one to watch.

For new display technologies X has to go beyond 16bit co-ordinate space.
I don't think XFree can deliver on that. I'm also bothered (but less so)
about its ability to deliver on pure 3D acceleration hardware people are
moving to, and on floating point colourspaces