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back to article What's going on with X.org? Desktop software body could lose domain

This time next week, one of the internet's rarest domains – the single-letter X.org – is up for renewal. The multi-million-dollar address is home to a foundation that develops widely used GUI display software for Linux and Unix-flavored desktops. Now it faces an uncertain future. The foundation's board of directors entered …

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  1. phil dude
    Facepalm

    but....

    It somehow runs on most of the worlds phones (Yes, Android).

    Imagine my surprise when I logged into my old Android phone (Moto-E 4G), and saw X there...

    I guess Wayland will be along soon, and we'll all wonder what happen to those "X programming" books you see on every TV show with computers (NCIS, CSI, Alias etc...).

    "Never chalk up to malice, that which can adequately explained by incompetence". Anon.

    P.

    0 4 Reply
    1. Jordan Davenport
      Reply Icon

      Re: but....

      Android doesn't use X11 or the Wayland protocol.

      7 0 Reply
      1. phil dude
        Reply Icon
        Linux

        Re: but....

        Mea Culpa, not as standard....

        -> http://www.xda-developers.com/android-gains-x11-support/

        But it *can* ;-)

        P.

        1 0 Reply
        1. phil dude
          Reply Icon
          Linux

          Re: but....

          To be thorough, the tool that generates the framebuffer (but OpenGL does the painting) is called surfaceflinger (See Exhibit A).

          So anyone out there that wants a *really* cheap touchpad (entryphone? Has the camera and mic too!) , get any old android, run X, and have a *nix box providing services!!

          And for anyone curious about what drives a cheap android phone, see Exhibit B!

          P.

          --cut here for Exhibits --

          A)

          ps |grep fling

          236 system 70892 S < /system/bin/surfaceflinger

          B)

          cat /proc/cpuinfo

          processor : 0

          model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)

          BogoMIPS : 38.40

          Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 evtstrm

          CPU implementer : 0x41

          CPU architecture: 7

          CPU variant : 0x0

          CPU part : 0xd03

          CPU revision : 0

          --cut here for Exhibits --

          2 2 Reply
    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: but....

      FYI: I've usually seen that final quote attributed to Napoleon and have followed suit in the past.....

      0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Use of the conditional, and/or question marks in headlines

    We were warned about it in our critical reading class back in elementary school. Yet decades latter it is still being used and people falling for it. Maybe they stopped teaching critical reading?

    1 6 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Two things

    1) Anyone can pay for a domain's renewal, even if you do not control it. This does not imply a transfer of ownership or any rights over it.

    2) As long as the bloke with access to the zone file keeps it pointed to Xorg's servers, who cares who the domain belongs to?

    7 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No big deal, just add it to the long list of X.org fck ups

    X.org will be irrelevant soon enough - Wayland (and Mir on Ubuntu) will finish them off.

    They've survived far longer than they had any right to expect.

    0 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No big deal, just add it to the long list of X.org fck ups

      > Wayland (and Mir on Ubuntu) will finish them off.

      I wasn't aware this was a competition.

      If you're going to bother posting, could you please minimally argument your points?

      0 3 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: No big deal, just add it to the long list of X.org fck ups

        > I wasn't aware this was a competition.

        You must be new to Unix/Linux, then. Ever heard of KDE or Gnome? Yeah right, they're not in competition either, and I've got fairies at the bottom of my garden.

        The simple fact is that X has become largely unfit for the modern desktop, and "fixing" X is nigh on impossible given the age and state of the code (and the incompetence of those who oversee it). The alternatives, as given above, will see that this isn't an issue for any longer than is necessary.

        Wayland is already available in production devices (eg. Sailfish OS) making X redundant, so within a year or two from now I would expect most modern distros to have made the move or be on the verge of making the move to Wayland.

        Whether or not you believe it's a competition is irrelevant. X must die.

        0 1 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: No big deal, just add it to the long list of X.org fck ups

          > You must be new to Unix/Linux, then

          In a way. I moved from Unix to Linux in 1995. Only ever wrote one device driver, so basic user really.

          > Ever heard of KDE or Gnome?

          Yup. I wrote some of the code in KDE4.

          > The simple fact is that X has become largely unfit for the modern desktop

          Care to expound why? You know, I work a bit higher on the stack so I'm not really keeping abreast of what goes on at the lower level in the graphical system. I lack the time for that, but I would gladly read a knowledgeable, articulate summary of the state of play down there if one is offered.

          As for the rest of your, frankly, quite silly rant, please tell me you're not LP. You sound like him.

          11 3 Reply
  5. cmaurand

    There's a well documented domain dispute policy that xorg will win and keep their domain. yawn.

    0 1 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      > There's a well documented domain dispute policy that xorg will win and keep their domain. yawn.

      Next time, you may wish to try reading the article before you comment.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Next time, you may wish to try reading the article before you comment.

        Actually, I suspect he might be right. XOrg need to provide a legal trail to convince the .org registry (Public Interest Registry) that they are the legitimate owners of the domain, but if they took it straight to ICANN's dispute procedure, I suspect they'd likely win.

        Going straight to ICANN would be rather rude though, and inadvisable when it appears it might only be good-will currently keeping the domain pointing to the foundation's assets.

        1 0 Reply
  6. Quortney Fortensplibe
    Coat

    Pass the Sick Bag!

    "..We have also reached out to the X.org Foundation..."

    Well, I don't think I was expecting the new Whale-Song and Joss-Stick flavoured Reg to manifest itself quite so soon.

    To quote from the commentardery on the linked article:

    John Brown (no body): I may have missed the phrases "going forward" and "hit the ground running" in the article. Or maybe the writer miraculously managed to to avoid them?

    Quortney Fortensplibe: I was similarly disappointed not to be "reached out to" by the article.

    [The one with vomit all down the front, thanks]

    15 1 Reply
    1. Robigus
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      Re: Pass the Sick Bag!

      As soon as I read "reached out" I was consumed with a powerful desire to put my boot through my monitor and send El Reg the bill.

      FFS.

      8 1 Reply
      1. Roq D. Kasba
        Reply Icon

        We have also reached out to the X.org Foundation but have yet to hear back.

        >>We have also reached out to the X.org Foundation but have yet to hear back.<<

        Because the bloke who does own the domain is getting all of their emails?

        4 0 Reply
      2. Tom Paine
        Reply Icon

        Re: Pass the Sick Bag!

        Ahhh, well, you should have looped in rather than reached out, you see.

        0 0 Reply
    2. Steve K
      Reply Icon

      Re: Pass the Sick Bag!

      Hope this diagram helps with the style rules to be followed:

      http://www.bulldictionary.com/reach-out/

      Steve

      10 1 Reply
      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
        Reply Icon

        Re: Pass the Sick Bag!

        Steve - thanks for the link! I will put it to good use.

        2 0 Reply
  7. cd / && rm -rf *
    Alert

    "reached out"... no. Just No.

    "We have also reached out..."

    Please don't be another online entity adopting this ugly Americanism. What's wrong with "We contacted..." ?

    7 1 Reply
    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: "reached out"... no. Just No.

      'What's wrong with "We contacted..." ?'

      "We asked..." is simpler.

      6 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "reached out"... no. Just No.

      Or even more appropriately for a website that's quite keen on showing how British it is:

      "We tried giving them a tinkle on the blower, but got naff all".

      8 0 Reply

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