What is X Window System?
[[File:Gnome-2.20-screenshot.png|thumb|[[GNOME]] 2.20]] [[File:KDE_4.png|thumb|[[K Desktop Environment|KDE]] 4]] [[File:Xfce-4.4.png|thumb|[[Xfce]] 4.4]] The '''X Window System''' is a set of [[protocol]]s and [[computer program|programs]]. It is also known as '''X11''', or simply '''X'''. It can manage [[Window (computing)|windows]], and other components of a [[graphical user interface]] (GUI) on a [[bitmap]] display. This way of doing graphics is most common in [[UNIX|Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s. X provides the basic components to build GUI environments: drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting with a [[Computer mouse|mouse]] or a [[Keyboard (computer)|keyboard]]. X does not say what the [[user interface]] should look like{{snd}}different client programs handle this. Different X11-based environments have radically different designs. X is not a part of the operating system; instead, it is built as an additional program on top of the operating system. Unlike display protocols from before, X was specifically designed to be used over [[computer network|network]] connections rather than on a display near the computer. X has [[network transparency]]: the machine where an application program (the ''client'' application) runs need not be the user's local machine (the display ''server''). X was developed at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] in 1984. The current protocol version, X11, appeared in September 1987. The [[X.Org Foundation]] leads the X project, with the current [[reference implementation]], version 11 release 7.7 (6 June 2012), available as [[free software]] under the [[MIT License]] and similar permissive [[License|licenses]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R7.0/doc/html/LICENSE.html |title= Licenses |work= X11 documentation |publisher= X.org |date= 19 December 2005 |accessdate= 2007-10-23 }}</ref> == References == <references/> {{tech-stub}} [[Category:Software]]