Ubuntu moving away from X

[Mark J Dulcey]

On 11/5/2010 5:38 PM, MBR wrote:

>> I expect X to continue to be supported for a long time, and it will be
>> the environment of choice for servers (where, just as now, you'll
>> typically only install the "client" part, i.e. the server in the
>> backwards terminology that X uses)

> The terminology is not backwards. It makes perfect sense if you
> understand what's meant by a server, and calling the X server the
> "client" makes things confusing as hell.

I understand that argument (not quoted). But I also understand the way 
that most people think of clients and servers. A server is a distant 
thing that does something for you, and a client is something that you 
operate to get the server to do something. But in X terminology you sit 
in front of a server and connect to a client. The X client runs on a 
server computer, and the X server runs on a client (i.e., desktop) 
computer. Backwards.

The main point I was making is that installing the part that X calls a 
client is useful on a server (in the non-X sense, like a computer 
providing storage or web services) so you can run GUI apps on the server 
and control them remotely. Running what X calls a server (the part that 
actually puts graphics on your computer screen) is less useful, since 
you don't normally sit in front of the screen of a server (in the non-X 
sense) and operate it directly.