Considering future trends without regard to the past and present is dangerous. While X is not perfect [9], one cannot deny the enormous success of the X Window System. The X Window System now claims over 3.5 million X capable seats [2]. X has well-established, portable APIs well known to workstation programmers. X is supported by nearly all workstation vendors worldwide. The number of X tools and applications grows daily.
A new window system standard in the X tradition should not abandon the existing base of applications, toolkits, programmers, and users. For this reason, D11 retains complete X11 window system compatibility.