window system

1 definition found

window system - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  window system
  windowing system
  
     Software which allows a workstation's screen to be divided
     into rectangular areas which act like a separate input/output
     devices under the control of different application programs.
     This gives the user the ability to see the output of several
     processes at once and to choose which one will receive input
     by selecting its window, usually by pointing at it with a
     mouse.
  
     Examples are the X Window System, and proprietary systems on
     the Macintosh and NeXT, NeWS on Suns and RISC OS on
     the Archimedes.  See also WIMP.