I remember xfree86, not that there was anything wrong with it, it just was not really doing anything. Then xorg showed up, I am not sure from where but they had an amazing domain name. And there was this energy present, this brought a lot of improvement. The one that directly effected me is how they pretty much removed the need for a xf86.conf. and when it is needed you only need to fill the section needed instead of the whole thing.<p>Anyway this energy is missing from from xorg these days, there is no corporate sponsor anymore. the project is sleeping. Which is a shame, I like X.<p>There is a quote.<p><pre><code> Around computers it is difficult to find the correct unit of time to
measure progress. Some cathedrals took a century to complete. Can you
imagine the grandeur and scope of a program that would take as long?
-- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
</code></pre>
Well we have our cathedrals of software, I think of X as one. both a relic of a forgotten age and a structure fit for modern usage. However, people appear to want to label these as "legacy systems" and tear them down.