
X Window System
Windowing system for bitmap displays on UNIX-like systems / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about X Window System?
Summarize this article for a 10 years old
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
![]() | |
![]() twm, the default X11 window manager | |
Original author(s) | Project Athena |
---|---|
Developer(s) | X.Org Foundation |
Initial release | June 1984; 39 years ago (1984-06) |
Stable release | |
Operating system | Unix, Unix-like, MVS OpenVMS, DOS |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Predecessor | W Window System |
Type | Windowing system |
License | MIT License |
Website | www |
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting with a mouse and keyboard. X does not mandate the user interface – this is handled by individual programs. As such, the visual styling of X-based environments varies greatly; different programs may present radically different interfaces.
X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984.[3] The X protocol has been at version 11 (hence "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.
Oops something went wrong: