Newsgroups: comp.unix.internals
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: X11 bashing
Message-ID: <.VXAREE@xds13.ferranti.com>
Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva)
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
References: <26550@adm.brl.mil> <1991Apr16.210107.41817@eagle.wesleyan.edu> <1991Apr17.040918.12203@Think.COM>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 91 18:45:59 GMT

In article <1991Apr17.040918.12203@Think.COM> barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
> I never used anything earlier than X10 myself, but I assume the first few
> versions of X were minimally useful, and eventually they decided all the
> features of X11 were needed.  The X developers were not just adding
> features for their own sake; they were trying to solve real problems.

The problem is that they were factoring the problem apart along the wrong
lines. They implemented basic drawing primitives and assumed that was good
enough. What they needed to be implementing was visual objects: buttons,
text panes, windows, etc. Eventually they realised it and built a toolkit
that let you work with those objects, but because it was in the application
it put a lot of strain on the protocol, and required real-time response
from an app.

> >> Most of the critics have failed to suggest what they would have liked to
> >> see as a windowing interface instead of X.

NeWS?

> >	Very well. I want xterms. Nothing more. I want to be able to pop
> >open 80x24 windows that emulate vt100s correctly.

Now all this guy wants is text panes.

> So get yourself a Macintosh and run NCSA Telnet.

An Amiga and "DNET" would be cheaper.

> I don't think our image processing and animation people...

Animation? Under X? The good animation stuff I've seen has an X-window
acting as a mask in front of proprietary high-speed graphics stuff.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  `-_-'  peter@ferranti.com
+1 713 274 5180.  'U`  "Have you hugged your wolf today?"