The X Window System display technology industry was worth $820m in 1992, up 60% from the $510m it turned over in 1991, according to a report by the Fremont, California-based X Business Group. The $820m figure includes revenue from sales of X terminals, personal computer X servers, graphical user interfaces and development tools. Revenue from sales of X terminals accounted for 62%, or $499m, of the 1992 figure, a 39% increase on the previous year’s sales. The fastest-growing sector of the X market was graphical user interface development technology, including cross system tools and interface development tools, which together accounted for more than $81m. Revenue from sales of personal computer X server packages rose to $33m, a growth of 217% over the 1991 figure. Some 184,000 personal computer X server licences were shipped, according to the group. The X Window industry figures from International Data Corp, Framingham, Massachusetts, differ slightly from those of the X Business Group: the market researcher reckons that sales of personal computer X server packages reached 189,000 last year – up from 67,000 in 1991 – with a value of $50m. Its study of the market 194,000 X terminals – worth $565m – were shipped last year, against 118,000 in 1991. Both the X Business Group and IDC say their findings illustrate the growing importance of X software, especially personal computer X servers, and say the X terminal price war is driving hardware revenues down. Eileen O’Brien, IDC’s director of terminal services, says the surge in personal computer X server sales wasn’t forecast to happen until 1994, and she attributes the rise to the improving quality of the software and to people that use X Window technology buying those bargain basement personal computers and running X server software on them as a cheap alternative to X terminals. Personal computer-based X is more popular in business than X terminals, she believes.
