XConsortium

Name

XConsortium - X Consortium information

Synopsis

Release 6.3 of X Version 11 was brought to you by X Consortium, Inc.

Description

The X Consortium was an independent, not-for-profit Delaware membership corporation. It was formed in 1993 as the successor to the MIT X Consortium. The purpose of the X Consortium was to foster the development, evolution, and maintenance of the X Window System, a comprehensive set of vendor-neutral, system-architecture neutral, network-transparent windowing and user interface standards.

The X Window System was created in the mid-1980s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1988, MIT formed a member-funded consortium to provide the technical and administrative leadership necessary to support further development of the X Window System. In 1992, MIT and the membership decided it was in their best interests to move the consortium out of MIT and create an independent, stand-alone organization. All rights to the X Window System were assigned by MIT to X Consortium, Inc. on January 1, 1994. X Consortium, Inc. closed its doors on December 31, 1996. All rights to the X Window System have been assigned to the Open Software Foundation.

The X Consortium was financially self-supporting through membership fees. There are no license fees associated with the use of X Window System standards and code developed by the X Consortium. Membership in the X Consortium was open to any organization willing to execute a membership agreement.

The X Consortium was a highly participative body. Members were encouraged to actively cooperate with the staff and other members in the design and review of proposed specifications, and in the design, coding and testing of sample implementations of those specifications.

The X Consortium accomplished most of its work using electronic mail over the Internet, with individual mailing lists for working groups. Internet electronic mail connectivity was viewed as a requirement for useful participation in X Consortium activities. Meetings were held as necessary, often in conjunction with industry conferences and trade shows.

Address

To reach the X Consortium public Wide World Web server, use the URL: http://www.x.org

To reach the X Consortium public ftp machine, use anonymous ftp to: ftp://ftp.x.org

Roles

Staff

Board of Directors

The X Consortium's activities and affairs were managed under the direction and oversight of a Board of Directors, elected annually by the Members. The Board was responsible for reviewing the achievements of the Consortium, approving planned work, appointing a President and other officers of the Consortium, and setting membership dues. The last Directors were:

Full Members

Associate Members

End Users

Affiliate Members