The X Consortium is close to getting itself a commercial life, saying that it is looking at taking on specific development projects outside its primary role as keeper and developer of the X Window specification. It says it is still negotiating, but hopes to have something to announce by the end of the month. Director of marketing Paul Lavallee admits the Consortium has been looking at the development of the Common Desktop Environment for some time. The not-for-profit successor to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s X Consortium has multimedia, object technology – Fresco – and Microsoft Corp Windows integration technology lined up for future X releases. As part of its multimedia effort it’s working on audio and video protocols, and the former should be available for X11.7, planned for the end of the year, along with more of the object stuff, including a portable and machine-independent interface system. Windows-to-X integration is more of a political issue, the Consortium says. It is talking to NT licensees about hooks into the operating system. And it seems that X Consortium president Bob Scheifler, who was to have left the body in February, will be around indefinitely.
