Editing X Window System (section)

{{Short description|Windowing system for bitmap displays on UNIX-like systems}}
{{Redirect|X11}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox software
| name = X Window System
| logo = X11.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| logo_upright = 0.3
| screenshot = Twm.png
| screenshot size = 
| caption = [[twm]], the default X11 [[window manager]]
| author = [[Project Athena]]
| developer = [[X.Org Foundation]]
| released = {{Start date and age|1984|06}}
| latest release version = {{wikidata |property|preferred|references|edit|Q178481|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date = {{wikidata |qualifier|preferred|single|Q178481|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| latest preview version = {{wikidata |property|preferred|references|edit|Q178481|P348|P548=Q51930650}}
| latest preview date = {{wikidata |qualifier|preferred|single|Q178481|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| replaces = [[W Window System]]
| operating system = [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]], [[MVS]] [[OpenVMS]], [[DOS]]
| platform = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Windowing system]]
| license = [[MIT License]]
| website = {{URL|https://x.org}}
}}
The '''X Window System''' ('''X11''', or simply '''X''') is a [[windowing system]] for [[bitmap]] displays, common on [[Unix-like]] operating systems.

X originated as part of [[Project Athena]] at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) in 1984.<ref name="Athena Network Services">{{cite journal|title=Network Services in the Athena Environment | first1 =Jennifer G. | last1 = Steiner| first2=Daniel E. | last2 = Geer Jr. |date=21 July 1988|journal=Proceedings of the Winter 1988 Usenix Conference |citeseerx = 10.1.1.31.8727}}</ref> The X protocol has been at version 11 (hence "X11") since September 1987.  The [[X.Org Foundation]] leads the X project, with the current reference implementation, [[X.Org Server]], available as [[free and open-source software]] under the [[MIT License]] and similar permissive licenses.