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Just for comparison, Apple "ditched" X too (they never used X). When they went to OS X they used Display Postscript rather than X. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_PostScript This has been a mixed bag: it has been good for Apple-only programs, but it significantly slowed and complicated the porting of existing and new X-based programs to Apple.
Sigh,my first job was to work on a proprietary X-server extension. Despite Jim Gettys' and Keith Packard's continued interest, and some interest from vendors as well, X seems to be losing hacker mind share. There were some fast proprietary X servers made by a few companies like Xig graphics that delivered truly incredible performance. But the really exciting things that could be done with X never saw daylight outside…
What sort of exciting things?
"Ditch X server" sounds like they're going to completely abandon X11. However, the Wayland FAQ[1] outlines ways of integrating X11 with Wayland, so I suppose users of, say, ddd are not going to suffer much. 1. https://groups.google.com/group/wayland-display-server/web/f...
If this gains sufficient traction, and if this provides a better-looking way to render stuff on screen, I guess this will lead to applications that talk the superior protocol, not The X protocol. Such applications would not run on X displays. If I interpret things correctly, the link you give explicitly describes such a scenario: Further down the road we run a user session natively under Wayland with clients written…
I've been unhappy with X since I learned enough (in the 90s) to have an opinion -- but not for the reason Shuttleworth gives: "We don’t believe X is setup to deliver the user experience we want, with super-smooth graphics and effects. I understand that it’s possible to get amazing results with X, but it’s extremely hard, and isn’t going to get easier. Some of the core goals of X make it harder to achieve these user e…
In that case, I think you'll hate future Ubuntu because (like its mentor OS X) it won't be very configurable at all. Easy things will be easy and everything else will be impossible.
This is assuming of course that people who like to fiddle with their display will stay with Ubuntu.
Not many people like to do that anyway. But if there are people who want that kind of control, it's not impossible.
For me X has always symbolized old, hard to configure, clunky, and ugly. It wasn't meant to be part of Unix but it mixed in. I am glad to see it go at least from our desktops.
For me X has always symbolized old, hard to configure, clunky, and ugly. It wasn't meant to be part of Unix but it mixed in. I am glad to see it go at least from our desktops.
X11 as a protocol is old and mature like TCP or SMTP. Just like SMTP it has some problems, but Wayland throws away some core features to fix it. Hopefully, Wayland is flexible enough to get network transparency like X11 at some point.
Just one question, I hear that Wayland is hugely dependent on the latest Graphics cards. So that would mean that ubuntu will no longer be usable by people like me who have moderately old hardware (mine is p4 with on board intel graphics, which are already having problems even with X). I liked how ubuntu was stable on my computer (till around 8.10 I think and 9.04 was not bad). I will miss the compatibility
"So that would mean that ubuntu will no longer be usable by people like me who have moderately old hardware (mine is p4 with on board intel graphics, which are already having problems even with X)" You will need OpenGL, that's it. You could buy a cheap OpenGL card for your P4 for 10$.
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Same here. My three year old laptop has gotten slower with every consecutive release of Ubuntu. I'm afraid to upgrade to the latest let alone to this new GL-based display server. Guess I'll just have to switch to a 'lighter' distro with less fireworks. I'm sure it will pay off for Ubuntu in the end... I just hope it doesn't actually start a trend for other distros to follow suit.
I switched to puppy linux and am loving the no-os-on-my-HD style (of course I can do a frugal install, but I am just lazy)
I have no worries about this. Linux distributions always do a couple of releases of "disasters", (e.g. KDE 4) before it starts becoming stable. Wayland is theoretically superior and with iteration after iteration, I'm sure it's going to come out on top. Just don't be one of the early adopters, but that's a given when it comes to Ubuntu, in my experience (unless you really do like the risks involved with cutting edge…
Have you ever tried to repair things in a new car with electronic fuel injection and computer-driven brakes? A huge advantage of X11 and all that other "70s technology" is that you can fix things more easily because it's built for being maintainable in the first place. Having said that, I think that splitting the X server into one lightweight compositing manager and one slightly less heavyweight X-server-on-top-of-th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I was selling software to defense companies I'd support IE6. If I was selling software to primary school teachers I'd support 800x600. If I was selling technology to engineers (especially CUDA types building render farms of thousands of nodes) you can bet your life I'd support Ubuntu. I wouldn't want to give them any reasons at all not to use my stuff everywhere, in case I accidentally opened a niche my competitor…
As a military consumer of defense industry products, please, for the love of humanity, do not support IE6. Even NMCI, AHLTA, and SPAWAR now support at least IE7. A fair chunk of the Army and Air Force are now Vista and Win7. As the father of 8 and 5 year-olds, please don't support 800x600. Even in New Orleans after the storm, with my wife working in the public schools, I didn't see any 800x600 displays.
That, in the US. I think it's different in other countries.