Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!LEVIATHAN.CS.UMD.EDU!ogata
From: ogata@LEVIATHAN.CS.UMD.EDU (Jeff Ogata)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: output in icons
Message-ID: <8806211610.AA15708@leviathan.cs.umd.edu>
Date: 21 Jun 88 16:10:49 GMT
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 14

The xterm active icon feature in X10 was handled by xterm, not by the window
manager.  I'm told that this feature has been removed from xterm in X11, and
that window managers are handling iconification these days.  Which brings me
to a point that has been bothering me for a while now...

Why window managers?  It seems to me that separating tasks from the clients
such as window resizing and iconification, without giving clients full control
of these actions, has caused a lot of headaches.  I'm confused as to the
actual utility of window managers.  Couldn't all the functions of the window
manager be handled by default widget code that the clients had more control
over?  Or something?  Am I missing something obvious that only window managers
can do adequately?

- Jeff Ogata