Re: What I like about X
> Huge chunks of it aren't used and haven't been used for years - the drawing primitives, fonts, damage model etc.
OK, so, step 1: make a detailed itemised list.
> Yet it all has to be maintained or it isn't the same protocol any more.
Also fine. Step 2: get the existing X.12 discussion moving by listing all the stuff that can be removed to make X.12 smaller, simpler and cleaner than X.11.
Step 3: a way for a server and a client to agree to use X.11 or X.12.
> And to do things approaching modern desktop requirements it had to be patched up by extensions which have to jump through hoops to function and had their own limitations and complexity.
They do, it is true.
The key points are, though:
[1] This has been done, and it works and it works well.
[2] The exact same thing is also applicable more generally to Linux in general, and indeed to Unix in general.
[3] And that the same argument applies to any successor display server as well, AFAICS.
So I do not find any of them compelling, TBH.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
