Xwindows Protocol

An incorrect way of naming the XwindowProtocol. In many circles, this faux pas will get you shot. On the other hand, who would want to be a member of those circles anyway?

All comments apply to "Xwindow"/"Xwindows" with or without the "protocol" qualifier.

"Xwindows" is in reality named either The XwindowSystem , or simply X (or more specific X11). In some circles of hard-core *nix weenies, referring to X as "Xwindows" can destroy your whole credibility. This is somewhat comparable to referring to the starboard and the backboard side of a ship as the "right" and the "left" side.

Arrr... Oi thinks you mean port and starboard, you landlubber!

Phew... good thing I didn't sign that post.

I've always thought this kind of HolyWar crusade against "wrong" names was silly on any topic, and doubly so on this topic: I've done lots of X11 (my semi-safe synonym) programming at the application level since roughly 1990, have read most of the 3 foot-high stack of X11 books, some multiple times cover to cover, have modified X11 widget sets, created new X11 widgets, have created infrastructure toolkits to ease X11 programming, and was once credited as co-author of an XFree86 X11 device driver, in part because I fixed bugs in the driver that were unfixed in the official Microsoft driver (the hardware documentation was incorrect, which I inferred some months before Microsoft and the hardware vendor did) - so although I am certainly not some kind of world class X11 expert/specialist, I am comfortable saying I have background on the topic, without fear of contradiction - and yet, despite that, *I* have always had trouble, right up to this current day, remembering what the politically correct names for X11 are.

It's called by "incorrect" names due to linguistic pressure, which I leave to another rant.

Thus my habit of just calling it "X11" to evade the wrath of the zealots. "What's in a name? A rose by other name would smell as sweet" (Or, if you hate X11, as sour...that's not the point.)

People should just chill. The point of words is to communicate. There is no right/wrong, there's just "does communicate" and "does not communicate". -- DougMerritt

For you and I. But to most people, especially the Unix weenies mentioned above, the point of words is to draw linguistic lines that demarcate who belongs and who is excluded from the tribe. Once that's achieved, you can start waging a genocidal war against the outlanders. Which is pretty much all that Linux is about. So you see, we can't accurately call this whole flap about "incorrect" names silly. Disgusting and repulsive, yes, but not silly. -- RK

CategoryXwindow