The X Window System (commonly known as X11, based on its current major version being 11, or shorted to simply X) is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and rich input device capability for networked computers. It creates a hardware abstraction layer where software is written to use a generalized set of commands, allowing for device independence and reuse of programs on any computer that implements X.
X originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The protocol version has been X11 since September 1987. The X.Org Foundation leads the X project, with the current reference implementation, X.Org Server, available as free and open source software under the MIT License and similar permissive licenses.
Read more about X Window System: Purpose and Abilities, Design, Principles, User Interfaces, Implementations, Limitations and Criticism, Competitors, Future Directions, Nomenclature, Release History
Famous quotes containing the words window and/or system:
“O Mary, at thy window be,
It is the wish’d, the trysted hour!”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.”
—Timothy Leary (b. 1920)