[NTLUG:Discuss] [Fwd: X.Org Foundation Official Release of X Window System X11R6.8.1]
Ralph Green, Jr
severian at mail.joimail.com
Sat Sep 18 00:44:55 CDT 2004
-----Forwarded Message-----
> Subject: X.Org Foundation Official Release of X Window System X11R6.8.1
> Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 23:32:00 -0400
>
>
> X11R6.8.1 Release of the X Window System
> ========================================
>
> X.Org Foundation Releases Security Update
> For X Window System Version X11R6.8.0
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Brookline MA, September 17, 2004 - The X.Org Foundation today announced
> the release of an update for the X Window System, which addresses the
> possible security vulnerability announced on September 15, 2004. The
> security advisory, which includes a description of the issue, can be found
> here:
>
> http://www.x.org/pub/X11R6.8.0/patches/README.xorg-CAN-2004-0687-0688.patch
>
> This bug affects all known versions and releases of the X Window System
> shipping versions of libXpm, whether from X.Org or other vendors. Therefore,
> users are strongly recommended to upgrade.
>
> Pre-release source tar files and a patch were made available shortly after
> the security advisory was released, which contained the security fix plus
> some preliminary documentation. The X.Org Foundation has now updated the
> source tar files and patch with the complete documentation and the updated
> release version and dates strings, and has made them available for download
> from http://www.X.Org and X.Org mirror sites worldwide.
>
> The original release announcement for X11R6.8.0 follows.
>
>
> X11R6.8.0 Release of the X Window System
> ========================================
>
> The X.Org Foundation Release Officially Introduces
> State of the Art Technologies to
> the X Window System
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Brookline MA, September 9, 2004 - The X.Org Foundation today announced the
> second release of the X Window System since the formation of the Foundation
> in January of this year.
>
> The new X.Org release, called X Window System Version 11, Release 6.8
> (X11R6.8) builds on the work of X.org X11R6.7 released in April. X11R6.8
> combines the latest developments from many people and companies working
> with the X Window System and an open X.Org Foundation Release Team. The X
> Window System X11R6.8 release can be found at ftp://www.x.org/pub and at
> mirror-sites worldwide.
>
>
> About this Release:
>
> In response to user and application developer demand, X.Org's X11R6.8
> brings forward widely anticipated fundamental facilities through this
> release. They include the first official X Window System Release support
> for:
>
> - Translucent windows
> - Window animation, window decorations like shadows
> - Support for accessibility applications
> - Support for 3D immersive user environments like Looking Glass(1)
> and Croquet(2)
> - Support for large scale display walls using DMX(3)
>
>
> These new facilities, some of which are still considered experimental, and
> so not enabled by default, have been under development for several years.
> Once completed and deployed, they will enable X Window System desktop
> projects, such as Gnome and KDE, to greatly extend their visual user
> interface vocabulary while still ensuring uncompromised support for
> existing applications, even surpassing current state of the art in
> competing window systems.
>
> These facilities will enable easy implementation of thumbnailing, screen
> magnifiers for accessibility, translucent windows, menus, drop shadows, and
> even integration of conventional applications into 3D immersive
> environments. They are the result of open collaboration within the
> freedesktop.org community, desktop projects, and the X Window System user
> and developer communities. For some illustrations visit
> http://www.freedesktop.org/XOrg/X11R68ScreenShots.
>
> Features also included in this release are updates and fixes to: FreeType2,
> Xprint, Xaw ( new PrintShell class), Mesa, DRI, driver rotation support,
> Render ( New Trapezoid Extension ), many driver updates, and a broad range
> of fixes and enhancements.
>
>
> About participation and membership in X.Org
>
> Membership in the X.Org foundation is free and open to all participants.
> Active participants in the further development of the X Window System are
> invited to visit: http://www.x.org/XOrg_Foundation_Membership.html to
> complete a membership application. Participation in the Foundation's
> Sponsor Group is also available to those who wish to financially
> support the activities of the X.Org Foundation. Current Sponsors
> include Hewlett Packard, IBM, ICS, Sun Microsystems, Shiman
> Associates, and WRQ.
>
>
> About the X.Org Foundation
>
> X.Org Foundation L.L.C. is a Delaware company organized to operate as
> a scientific charity under IRS code 501(c)(3), chartered to develop
> and execute effective strategies that provide worldwide stewardship of
> the X Window System technology and standards. The group is currently
> managed by its Board of Directors that includes: Stuart Anderson (Free
> Standards Group), Egbert Eich (Novell), Jim Gettys (HP), Stuart
> Kreitman (SUN Microsystems), Kevin Martin (Red Hat), Jim McQuillan
> (Linux Terminal Server Project), Keith Packard (HP), and Leon Shiman
> (Shiman Associates). The website for the X.Org Foundation can be
> found at http://www.x.org/.
>
>
> About The X Window System
>
> The X Window System provides the only common networked windowing
> environment bridging the heterogeneous platforms in today's
> computing. The X Window System is one of the most successful
> open-source, collaborative technologies developed to date and is the
> standard graphical window system for the Linux® and UNIX® operating
> systems. The inherent independence of the X Window System from the
> operating system, the network and the hardware, as well as its
> successful interoperability, have made it widely available and
> deployed with more than 30 million users worldwide. All major hardware
> vendors support the X Window System and many third parties provide
> technologies for integrating X Window System applications into the
> networked computer or personal computer environments including
> Microsoft Windows®, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS® X. Further, thousands of
> software developers provide X Window System applications, and with the
> continued growth of Linux and the emergence of Mac OS X, the number of
> users is growing rapidly.
>
>
>
> Community Response:
>
> "This release of the X.org server incorporates a number of extensions that
> were developed in consultation with experts in the field," said Bill
> Haneman, Sun Microsystems, GNOME Foundation board member and member of the
> FSG Accessibility Workgroup. "This new release removes a number of
> significant accessibility roadblocks and facilitates considerably improved
> support for onscreen magnifiers, screen readers, and other assistive
> technologies."
>
> "As one of the original founding members of the X Window System project,
> HP is pleased to be supporting the X.Org Foundation as a continued
> sponsor. With the second X.org Foundation release of the X Window System, we
> once again demonstrate the power of the open source development model to
> deliver true innovation and value to our customers," said Martin Fink, vice
> president of Linux, HP.
>
> "Open source takes a giant leap into the future with the new X Window
> System release and Croquet working together," said Alan Kay, Senior HP
> Fellow, HP Labs.
>
> "If anyone doubts the quality of 'Open Source' they only need look to this
> new release of X," said Peter Winston, President of leading UI development
> company Integrated Computer Systems (www.ICS.com) and member of X.org. With
> tens of millions of Linux and UNIX developers around the world relying on
> the X Window System, X.org has created a new version which users can depend
> upon and that addresses the new needs of a changing market. The additions
> of translucent windows and support for large scale display walls will be
> especially well received by our core customer base of developers building
> homeland defense applications."
>
> "LTSP relies heavily on the X Window System and we are inspired by the
> continuing development and community involvement that has gone into the
> latest X.org release." -- Jim McQuillan, LTSP project leader.
>
> "Novell welcomes the rapid progress of the X.Org Foundation. We are
> pleased to support the new release of X.Org in the next SUSE LINUX product
> offering, which will enable technology enthusiasts to benefit from the
> latest enhancements in Linux windowing technology, and we will continue to
> actively contribute to the project." -- Chris Schlaeger, VP R&D SUSE LINUX
> at Novell
>
> "Red Hat is proud to contribute to development of the X Window System
> technology and standards through continued involvement in and support of
> X.org's efforts. Red Hat plans to include the X11R6.8 release in the
> the open source Fedora Core project and upcoming releases of Red Hat
> Desktop." -- Havoc Pennington, desktop technical architect and engineering
> manager.
>
> "X11R6.8 contains essential features which provide the underlying
> foundation for the Project Looking Glass 3D window system, such as the
> Composite and Damage extensions. These timely and well implemented
> features have significantly accelerated our development effort." -- Deron
> Johnson, Sun Microsystems, Project Looking Glass.
>
> "As the former X.org chair, and current chair of the X.org Sponsor's
> Group, I'm very pleased to see the X.org Foundation produce the 6.8 release
> of X11, which includes contributions from many different groups, with
> different interests and goals, but with a common interest in and focus on
> advancing the X technology. I believe that as long as that common focus
> continues, this Foundation and their releases will be of great value to the
> broad community of X technology users." -- Steve Swales, Senior Manager,
> Platform Globalization Engineering; X.Org Sponsor Board Chairperson, Sun
> Microsystems, Inc.
>
> "R6.8 rocks! Now Qt/X11 can natively support almost everything developers
> have come to expect from our Windows and Mac OS X versions", says Matthias
> Ettrich, Director of Software Development at Trolltech, a cross-platform
> GUI tool vendor, "Kudos to the X.org team."
>
>
> Notes to editors:
>
> (1) Project Looking Glass: http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/
> and https://lg3d.dev.java.net
> (2) Croquet Project: http://www.opencroquet.org/
> (3) Distributed Multihead X Project: http://dmx.sourceforge.net/
> (4) The Mesa 3D Graphics Library: http://www.mesa3d.org
> (5) Direct Rendering Infrastructure: http://dri.sourceforge.net/
> (6) The Freetype Project: http://www.freetype.org
> (7) The Xprint Project: http://xprint.mozdev.org/
>
> UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in
> the US and other countries. LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus
> Torvalds. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft
> Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac OS is a
> registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the
> U.S. and other countries. All other company names are trademarks of
> the registered owners.
>
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