Roman Empire

• X Consortium Founded after X11R1 shipped

  • Control of base window system, library and standard
  • Some success with some extensions (e.g. Shape, input)
  • a lot of BAD ideas: e.g. XIE, PHIGS extension for X, and others you probably haven't heard of, often politically motivated.

• The "GUI Wars"

  • Sapped vitality, and split the market

• Fighting in the Provinces

  • Emperor was always battling provincial interests
  • Never succeeded at establishing full control

• Warring while the real enemy grew and laughed

  • UNIX failed to go to the low end systems - fundamental mistake!