Re: [forum] A Gov Application Developer's Perspective - X Windows future?

[Alan Cox <alan@redhat.com>]

> A start might be an X Server written from the ground up to use native Windows GDI and DirectX
> functionality. Adequate OpenGL support has been around for Windows for some time.
> When are we going to have similar support for X?

I guess it depends if the US government plans to develop it.

> to work on ANY CLIENT with ANY BROWSER. Until such time as X Windows is universally available
> as a built-in or plug-in for all major browsers and all versions of those browsers, browser compatibility
> is an issue. Java has a similar problem, mainly due to Microsoft's obstinacy, but we are getting to
> the point that Java works fairly well with IE, Netscape and Mozilla.  X Web has not yet achieved
> much general acceptance.

If you've got java you've got WeirdX (or vnc for that matter). Also tools
like weirdmind (ssh client with tunnelled X support). X windows over ssh
is a solved problem both freeware and proprietary with support (WiredX)

> 7) Development/maintenance costs - The numerous standard X APIs and extensions are so
> complex that development and maintenance costs are excessive. IMHO, X needs a serious
> house cleaning. Instead of demanding backwards compatibility, the old stuff should be
> gradually obsoleted and deleted. Face it, it is becoming tough to find X books anymore
> in the computer bookstores because the commercial and government worlds are both
> abandoning X for simpler APIs that are more easily applicable to the Web.

And modern toolkits. I don't think I've ever touched 'colormap' or many
of the other details in the grungy world of X internals since Gtk and Qt
grew canvas widgets. Qt has obvious appeal because it works on Windows
and on X11

All the major vendors are heading away from Motify/Xt/Xaw thankfully.

Alan