How far are we from a 3D composition rendering technique for a 2D desktop on XFree?
David Dawes: There has been some work on a new rendering model for XFree86 that provides some more advance composition techniques (including transparency), this currently being implemented in software. For XFree86 5.0 we’ll be investigating this as part of our review of rendering models, and seeing if a hardware implementation would not be more appropriate. 9. X is a protocol created in the ’80s. For sure, it carries a lot of legacy. These very legacy issues many times have been in the center of long discussions saying that they keep “XFree” behind the times. Is this true? Would you agree on removing old legacy code, and try to “modernize” the XFree architecture and code in possible expense of the lack of backwards compatibility? David Dawes: The age of the X protocol has its pros and cons. The biggest pros are that it’s widely used and has a high level of interoperability. X was designed to be extensible. This makes it possible to add new features while retaining compatibility with le
