


          XCONSORTIUM(1)                 AIX                 XCONSORTIUM(1)



          NAME
               MIT X Consortium

          SYNOPSIS
               X11R4 is brought to you by the MIT X Consortium.

          DESCRIPTION
               X Window System research began in the summer of 1984 at MIT
               as an informal joint undertaking between the Laboratory for
               Computer Science and Project Athena.  Since that time,
               researchers and engineers at numerous other universities and
               companies have been involved in the design and implementa-
               tion.

               The MIT X Consortium was formed in January of 1988 to
               further the development of the X Window System.  It is part
               of the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT, and has as
               its major goal the promotion of cooperation within the com-
               puter industry in the creation of standard software inter-
               faces at all layers in the X Window System environment.
               MIT's role is to provide the vendor-neutral architectural
               and administrative leadership required to make this work.
               The Consortium is financially self-supporting, with member-
               ship open to any organization.  There are two categories of
               membership, Member (for large organizations) and Affiliate
               (for smaller organizations).  A list of members as of the
               public release of X11R4 is given below.

               The Director of the X Consortium acts as the ultimate archi-
               tect for all X specifications and software.  The activities
               of the Consortium are overseen by an MIT Steering Committee,
               which helps set policy and provides strategic guidance and
               review of the Consortium's activities.  An Advisory Commit-
               tee made up of member representatives meets regularly to
               review the Consortium's plans, assess its progress, and sug-
               gest future directions.

               Most of the Consortium's activities take place via elec-
               tronic mail, with meetings when required.  As designs and
               specifications take shape, interest groups are formed from
               experts in the participating organizations.  Typically a
               small multi-organization architecture team leads the design,
               with others acting as close observers and reviewers.  Once a
               complete specification is produced, it may be submitted for
               formal technical review by the Consortium as a proposed
               standard.  The standards process includes public review
               (outside the Consortium) and a demonstration of proof of
               concept, typically established with a public, portable
               implementation of the specification, (although other methods
               are possible on a case by case basis).

               The MIT staff of the Consortium also maintains a software
               and documentation collection, containing both Consortium-


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          XCONSORTIUM(1)                 AIX                 XCONSORTIUM(1)



               developed and user-contributed materials, and endeavors to
               make periodic distributions of this collection available to
               the public without license and for a minimal fee.  X11R4 is
               the fourth such distribution.  The Consortium also sponsors
               an annual conference, open to the public, to promote the
               exchange of technical information about X.

          STAFF
               The Director of the X Consortium is Bob Scheifler,
               rws@expo.lcs.mit.edu.  The MIT staff members are as follows.

               Donna Converse, converse@expo.lcs.mit.edu
               Jim Fulton, jim@expo.lcs.mit.edu
               Michelle Leger, michelle@expo.lcs.mit.edu
               Keith Packard, keith@expo.lcs.mit.edu
               Chris Peterson, kit@expo.lcs.mit.edu

               Ralph Swick, swick@athena.mit.edu, an employee of Digital
               Equipment Corporation working at MIT Project Athena, also
               works directly with the Consortium staff.


          POSTAL ADDRESS
               The MIT X Consortium can be reached by writing to

               Bob Scheifler
               MIT X Consortium
               Laboratory for Computer Science
               545 Technology Square
               Cambridge, MA 02139

          MEMBERS
               Apple Computer, Inc.
               American Telephone & Telegraph Company
               Bull S.A.
               Control Data Corporation
               Cray Research, Inc.
               Data General Corporation
               Digital Equipment Corporation
               Eastman Kodak Company
               Fujitsu Limited
               Hewlett-Packard Company
               International Business Machines Corporation
               Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
               Motorola, Inc.
               NEC Corporation
               NCR Corporation
               Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
               OMRON Corporation
               Prime Computer, Inc.
               Rich, Inc.
               Sequent Computer Systems Inc.
               Siemens AG


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               Silicon Graphics, Inc.
               Sony Corporation
               Sun Microsystems, Inc.
               Tektronix, Inc.
               Texas Instruments, Inc.
               Unisys Corporation
               Wang Laboratories, Inc.
               Xerox Corporation


          AFFILIATES
               ACER America Corporation
               Adobe Systems
               Advanced Graphics Engineering
               Carnegie Mellon University
               CETIA - Compagnie Europeene des Techniques de l'Ingenierie Assistee
               Codonics, Inc.
               Evans & Sutherland
               GfxBase
               INESC - Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores
               Integrated Solutions
               Interactive Systems Corporation
               Interactive Development Environments
               Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc.
               Key Systems Engineering Corp.
               Jupiter Systems
               University of Kent at Canterbury
               Landmark Graphics Corporation
               Locus Computing
               University of Lowell
               Matrox International
               Megatek Corporation
               MIPS Computer Systems
               MITRE Corporation
               Network Computing Devices
               Nova Graphics International
               Open Software Foundation
               O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
               PCS Computer Systeme GmbH
               Ramtek Corporation
               Samsung Software America
               SGIP - Societe de Gestion et d'Informatique Publicis
               Software Productivity Consortium
               Solbourne Computer Inc.
               Spectragraphics Corporation
               Stanford University
               Stardent Computer
               Tatung Science and Technology
               UNICAD, Inc.
               Visual Technology Inc.
               X/Open Company Ltd.




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