I came across an article about the W Windowing System and was interested to learn more about its history and legacy.
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The W Windowing System is an older windowing system that preceded the X Window System. Although it's no longer in use today, it played a significant role in the development of X. The W Windowing System was designed to provide a windowing environment for Unix-like operating systems. While X ultimately became the dominant windowing system, W's influence can be seen in some of X's design decisions.
Key Takeaways
The W Windowing System was a precursor to the X Window System
It was designed for Unix-like operating systems
Although it's no longer in use, W's design influenced X
Been an X programmer since early 90s; read about W but never encountered a working install. Impression was that others felt all its best ideas survived in X, so nobody tried to keep W alive.