Originally posted by make_adobe_on_Linux!
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It was and is extensively used, and X11 have been around for decades.
The X11 protocol was designed in old times when different things were expected from computers, as such it manages much more than just displaying pixels, it also deals with fonts, drawing shapes, and much more.
There also existed some used proprietary implementations of the X11 protocol, some claiming better performance by forgoing the client/server architecture.
Over 20 years ago, Sun also tried their own stuff with SunView and NeWS. NeWS was on PostScript. I think maybe Apple might have gone with the PostScript approach too.
X is still popular today, and the most widely used even today. Wayland is gaining traction. Wayland uses a different approach and treats everything as frames. It is a much simpler design and touts security benefits.
Canonical was pushing for their own thing called Mir, but they eventually abandoned that approach and rewrite Mir as a Wayland compositor instead.
There have been some small scales at putting up alternatives against the X Window System such as the Y Window System, but nothing have gained much traction. Some embedded devices used DirectFB instead of X.Org Server.
Here is a very good article about alternatives to X and Wayland.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=87281
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