Here is the text of the announcement posted by the Consortium to 
comp.windows.x on 1 July 1996:

     X Consortium to Transfer X Window System(tm) to The Open Group

Cambridge, Massachusetts - July 1, 1996 - X Consortium, Inc. today
announced that it would transfer responsibility for the X Window System
to The Open Group at the beginning of next year. "X is now mainstream
technology, and since the first commercial release in 1986 it has
matured to the point where a dedicated consortium is no longer essential
to its on-going support," explains Robert W. Scheifler, president of the
X Consortium. "Our industry will benefit greatly by continuing and
accelerating the convergence of X, Motif and the Common Desktop
Environment (CDE) into a unified technology stack. This is already well
underway with the current CDE-Motif PST project, operating under the
auspices of The Open Group, an organization that is well positioned to
take this technology into the future."  The Open Group will continue
their existing work of publishing, testing and branding products which
conform to international standards, including X.

"As a long standing partner with the X Consortium in the Open Systems
industry, The Open Group supports this decision. On a personal note, I
want to add that the computer industry owes an enormous debt of
gratitude to Bob Scheifler and the X Consortium for the service they
have provided for the last eight years," commented Jim Bell, CEO of The
Open Group. "Their very positive impact on our industry will continue to
be felt for years to come."

As part of this change, X Consortium plans to wind down all engineering
operations at the end of this year. "I have made a commitment to our
members, and to the sponsors of the CDE-Motif project, to oversee the
entire transition process from now until our current engineering
projects are finished and the hand-off is complete," said Scheifler. The
X Consortium will work with its members and The Open Group to determine
whether the organization should continue on in some reduced fashion.

Broadway, the code name for the next release of the X Window System,
will be completed as planned by the end of the year, and will be made
freely available to the public under the same terms as previous X
Consortium releases.  Broadway enables interactive UNIX and Windows
applications to be integrated, unmodified, into HTML documents and
published on World Wide Web servers, using plug-in technology, and
includes network protocols for graphics and audio to provide remote
access to those applications from inside Web browsers. The Broadway
release is expected to be available from current sources, including
worldwide ftp sites and CDROM distributors.

The X Consortium will fulfill its obligations as prime contractor in The
Open Group's Pre-Structured Technology (PST) project developing the next
release of CDE and Motif. "The plan has always been to complete both the
CDE-Motif project and Broadway by the end of this year," says Jim
Fournier, Director of Engineering. "We are confident in our ability to
deliver as planned."

About the X Consortium

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, X Consortium, Inc. is a
not-for-profit industry consortium developing user interface standards
and graphics technology with over sixty members worldwide. Founded in
1993 as successor to the MIT X Consortium, the X Consortium enhances and
maintains the X Window System. In 1995, the X Consortium was named prime
contractor for development of the next release of CDE and Motif.


X Window System is a trademark of X Consortium, Inc.
Motif is a registered trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc.
The Open Group is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc. and
X/Open Company Ltd.  
All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.