Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 5th Nov 2010 19:15 UTC, submitted by Debjit
Finally. Finally the leader of a major distribution who has the guts to stand up and say what a lot of people have known for a long time, but didn't dare to say because it usually leads to a storm of criticism. Mark Shuttleworth has announced that Ubuntu will be moving away from X.org, opting to go with Wayland instead.
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RE: network transparency should move to toolkits
by ndrw on Sun 7th Nov 2010 04:16
in reply to "network transparency should move to toolkits"
Member since:2009-06-30
We've been going through this in early X11 days (Xt, fonts) and conclusion is: it doesn't work.
There are always differences between server and client versions, architectures etc. It means that server-side part of the toolkit quickly becomes obsolescent and there is no way to upgrade it without a major overhaul of all installed systems.
The solution is: server-side user code. If the toolkit/application could upload code to the Xserver for execution, it would solve all maintenance problems. The obvious new issue is security, so forget about implementing toolkit backends in C, that would have to be something like a Java applet or postscript of Javascript running in a sandbox.
RE[2]: network transparency should move to toolkits
by TheGZeus on Sun 7th Nov 2010 08:35
in reply to "RE: network transparency should move to toolkits"
Member since:2010-05-19
RE: network transparency should move to toolkits
by phoenix on Mon 8th Nov 2010 21:36
in reply to "network transparency should move to toolkits"
Member since:2005-07-11
* Remote apps integrate awfully in a local work station, even if they use the same toolkit as your local desktop. Themes are often very different.
Remote apps inherit the themes and colour schemes of the X Server, which is running on the local host with the monitor plugged into it. IOW, if your remote apps are not looking like local apps, you are doing something wrong.
Moving the network transparency to the toolkit would solve both problems.
Network transparency is no longer transparent if the user has to know it's there, and has to learn Z different ways to do it, since each separate toolkit does it its own way. Network transparency *has* to happen at the lower/lowest level of the graphics stack.
Member since:
2010-11-06
Network transparency is a useful asset also for home users (gui on a home server). But I still do not think it is a problem in itself that Wayland does not offer network transparency. This functionality should move to the toolkit:
* The amount of data involved in drawing windows has increased tremendously since the X protocol was invented. If I am correct gradient of e.g. a window bar are moved pixel-by-pixel in X. It would be much more bandwidth efficient to move more high level graphics primitives over the network.
* Remote apps integrate awfully in a local work station, even if they use the same toolkit as your local desktop. Themes are often very different.
Moving the network transparency to the toolkit would solve both problems. The downside is of course that more toolkit should offer this functionality. But in my opinion it will be enough if QT and GTK operate over the network. If we are burying old ancient software, lets bury motif as well.