Microsoft weakens OpenGL

THE OPENGL Foundation claims that the software giant, Microsoft is trying to shaft its free specification with the introduction of its super soar-away version of its Windows operating system Vista.

The foundation has issued a call to arms here, over Vole's plan to layer OpenGL over Direct3D in Vista.

Users need to have a composited desktop to obtain what Vole spinsters dub the 'Aeroglass experience'. However, the foundation fears that if an OpenGL Installable Client Driver is run under Vista, the desktop compositor will switch off and the performance will be pants.

It seems that at the heart of the problem is the fact that Vista's new interface and driver model uses DirectX in a slightly new way. These changes have had a knock on effect with other 3d graphics APIs.

Vole's changes could force game developers to program in DirectX to take better advantage of Vista features and make it harder to port to other operating systems in OpenGL.

According to the Foundation this means that if you use Vista, OpenGL performance will be slashed by half, limited and there would be no extensions will be possible to cope with future hardware innovations. The foundation does not have a clue why Vole is doing this.

It says it is technically straightforward to provide an OpenGL ICD within Vista.

It thinks that layering OpenGL over Direct3D is all part of a cunning plan and the OpenGL community should encourage hardware & software developers, and lean on the Vole to maintain OpenGL as a first class API.

It fears that if the ‘cunning plan' is successful, games developers could move away from OpenGL and toward Vole's own Direct3D standard, here. µ