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whorgoaparl

Gnome and KDE viewpoint on the future of the X Window System

Submitted by DV on Mon, 2003-03-24 12:12. Linux

A sizeable group of developers from the two leading free software
projects developing desktops based on the X Window System, KDE and
GNOME, have been discussing the current situation among themselves
and decided to draft and release this document.We acknowledge the dedication of the XFree86 project in providing us a
free and innovative implementation of the X11 industry standard,
something we benefit from on a daily basis. Therefore, we want to
share our joint point of view with the community.

1. XFree86's recent technical progress, culminating in the 4.3
release, brought significant advancements to the X desktop. Prior
X Window System implementations were lagging behind the needs of
modern desktop users.

Cursor theming, simplified font configuration, dynamic screen
resizing, and so on address long-overdue usability issues with X
desktops. XFree86's robust solutions in these areas have been
invaluable.

However, the work is not done. Our goal is to provide the
community with desktop systems far beyond what anyone offers
today. We are ready to take advantage of an X Window System
implementation that continues to innovate.

2. GNOME and KDE have two interests in X:

- We would like to have a single organization where X innovation
occurs. By innovation, we mean the definition of new APIs,
specifications, and features - new additions to the foundations
that KDE and GNOME rely on.

- We would like to have a frequently-released, robust, stable,
open source implementation of these APIs, specifications, and
features.

We are explicitly distinguishing innovation from implementation,
because standards should be adequate to allow multiple
fully-interoperable implementations.

Within the development organization responsible for defining and
crafting new features to be adopted as standards, innovation
should happen in the open, with all affected parties able to
participate early in the process.

3. We do not want to take sides on the recent political wrangling of
who did what when and who should be in charge. Our hope is that as
a community we can find a way to involve everyone in X's
development and move forward with solving technical challenges.

4. It makes sense to us if the organization responsible for X
innovation also develops the most widely used open source
reference implementation. This ensures an emphasis on working
code, and provides a pool of active technical expertise.

5. We would like to see this forum work toward a unified
organization, governed by active contributors, that implements,
deploys, and standardizes new X innovations.
We do not want to take an a priori position on how this
organization should be organized or governed - that is a
conversation we're trying to start, rather than one we're trying
to end. We trust and will support the X community as they work to
address this issue.

Best wishes

Waldo Bastian

Jonathan Blandford

David Faure

Glynn Foster

Jody Goldberg

James Henstridge

Miguel de Icaza

Antonio Larrosa Jim�nez

Stephan Kulow

Daniel Molkentin

Dirk Mueller

Ralf Nolden

Havoc Pennington

Zack Rusin

Daniel Veillard

Jeff Waugh

Re: I wouldn't get too excited

Submitted by Anonymous George on Mon, 2003-03-24 17:02.

Yes I saw that post. From a guy who hasn't used X in years; by his own admission. So it is obvious he doesn't need the network independence of X. He has become a AOL admin and has to run Windows/Mac and has forgotten the X/UNIX way. The network is the computer and the computer is the network.

You can't build a 'compatibility layer' unless none of the apps use the DirectX. Make no mistake, 90% of the calls for a 'direct rendering solution' want to see DirectX on Linux. If none of the major apps can USE the direct layer, why did we need it in the first place? Oh, what is this you say, the apps WILL use it? Goodby network transparency and welcome to MAC/WIndows reinvented poorly.

Games and video are the ONLY areas where direct rendering helps. There are already the xv extension and several direct/shared memory access methods in X for those high bandwidth apps that wouldn't work well over the network anyway. And in case nobody noticed, most current games are 3d, which means OpenGL outside the Windows camp and OGL is network transparent just like X.

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