Over the past several years, the foundation that will lead to a GL-based composited desktop has been laid, but there is still much work ahead for Linux. Other OSes already have or are well on their way toward having a solution in this space. We need a concerted effort across every level of the OS - from the applications through the toolkits and libraries into the X server and the kernel - if we are to be successful.

In this paper, we examine the key technologies required, solve the limitations of the current X server design, and bring a GL-based composited desktop to fruition. For each of these technologies we will present current development status, explain how they fit together to create the GL-based composited desktop, and outline a roadmap for how to complete the remaining tasks.

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