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[OM] Re: X-Windows was: Re: Communications [was lighting]

Subject: [OM] Re: X-Windows was: Re: Communications [was lighting]
From: Jay Maynard <jmaynard@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 03:56:40 -0500
On Sun, Mar 11, 2007 at 05:04:34PM +1030, David Thatcher wrote:
> > X: it's big, bloated, and slow, and solves a problem that no longer needs 
> > solving, as nobody uses a graphics terminal that's driven by a big 
> > multiuser compute server any more.
> bloated? slow?  you _must_ be thinking of the default KDE window
> manager, I suggest you try FVWM1 if you get an opportunity.   ("What do
> you mean I have to start programs from a command line?") :)

Haven't tried FVWM1. I have tried Xfce and IceWM, two window managers that
are both pretty light and fast. They still can't overcome X's design
misfeatures. X was designed for an Xterminal environment, where you have a
thin client driven by a host computer. Nobody does those any more. (I used
to work for a company whose software was X based. Had a hell of a time
explaining to potential customers why they needed another program to run it
on the Windows desktops they universally had.)

> I guess it all depends on your needs. I usually need many text based
> screens open & often need to be able to copy/paste text configs between
> them quickly, a simple click-drag-click operation in X (not
> click-drag-button-click click-wait-click-drag-click, or
> click-drag-click-scroll-drag--do-si-do or similar UI gymnastics moves).   

You probably also have it set up for bump-mouse-to-lose-focus, too.
Focus-follows-mouse is almost as serious a user interface botch as case
sensitivity. (That's one of the menay things Apple got right when they based
OS X on Unix.)

> For me, what you see as the 'problem that no longer needs solving' is
> one of  the best things about it. I personally like the ability to
> offload processes to other machines, yet have their terminals/windows on
> my screen, run my apps on my workstation in my environment from another
> machine, or to haze the new guys by popping up random images on their
> screens! VNC can't compete here by comparison.

Try doing that over a slow network link. Oink.

> To each his own, I suppose, I find what works for others will often
> impede my progress. We'll likely need to agree to disagree. In the end,
> I imagine that we like the computer to do the work for us, and not the
> other way around! Isn't that what it's really all about?

Yup. We also don't have to put up with that gaping collection of security
holes masquerading as an OS, or the other gaping collection of security
holes masquerading as a web browser.
-- 
Jay Maynard, K5ZC                    http://www.conmicro.cx
http://jmaynard.livejournal.com      http://www.tronguy.net
http://www.hercules-390.org               (Yes, that's me!)
Buy Hercules stuff at http://www.cafepress.com/hercules-390

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