Why X Is Not Our Ideal Window System

(people.freedesktop.org)

13 points | by signa11 21 hours ago ago

4 comments

  • leecommamichael 14 hours ago ago

    > The real problem lies at a more fundamental level. The holdover of borders from the X10 protocol is a mistake. Borders cause complications in the protocol, servers, and clients, but don’t provide enough payback to justify their existence.

    > We can’t justify removing borders from the X protocol, given the large number of clients that would need modification. However, future window systems should let clients deal with window borders. Programmers using X11 should take care when performing geometry computations.

  • WarOnPrivacy 18 hours ago ago

    I suggest stripping the tracking query from the url so it's just:

        https://people.freedesktop.org/~ajax/WhyX.pdf
  • anenefan 20 hours ago ago

    ... 1990. Not verified (as it requires money) but as best as I can determine, first published in 1990 - Software, practice & experience. 1990, Vol 20, pp S2.137-S2.171 ; NS2 ; ref : 12 ref CODEN SPEXBL ISSN 0038-0644

    • WarOnPrivacy 18 hours ago ago

      1990 looks right for a post date

          ref: https://dblp.org/pid/m/MarkSManasse.html
          ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/spe.4380201409
      
      It's a shame it's historical. I was hoping that X had been lurking around all this time and was about to stage a comeback.

      I have fond memories of Quaterdeck's DESQview/X system.