[gameprogrammer] Re: OpenGL reality check.

On Sun, 2005-12-18 at 09:26 -0400, Kevin Fields wrote:
> I agree that it's not the best way to go about doing things; however, if you 
> look at the advancements that the new DirectX drivers and Shader Model 4.0 
> are making, then you might change your mind (at least a little). That 
> article I posted the link for describes the advances that Microsoft is 
> making with DirectX 10, and I'm kind of excited to see how they perform.
> 
> Keep in mind, that it's been the card manufacturers and the ARB that have 
> been providing the support for OpenGL. Microsoft hasn't given any support 
> for it since 1.1, and they're doing the same thing for Vista, except they've 
> said that they won't give anything above 1.5. It's up to the card 
> manufacturers to support any subsequent version, which is what's been 
> happening for years anyway.
> 
> Microsoft isn't trying to kill it, otherwise, they wouldn't be providing a 
> second desktop that doesn't use the new DirectX drivers setup. 

Naw, that has nothing to do with OpenGL. They have the alternative
desktop for at least two reasons. 1) Because the new desktop is a
resource hog and won't run well on most existing machines. They have to
have a mode that will run on older machines if they want to sell to
people with older machines. 2) MS always seems to take 3 tries to get
anything to work right. That means the new desktop can be expected to be
much less reliable than the old one and people may drop back to the old
one to get work done until the second or third bug major bug fix release
for Vista. 

> If they 
> REALLY wanted to kill OpenGL, all they had to do was remove that second 
> desktop, and decent OpenGL implementations would be gone from Windows. But, 
> if they did that, they would lose thousands of users; perhaps hundreds of 
> thousands. So, that would be a very bad marketing decision for them.

Losing a 100,000 customers if not a big deal to MS. Losing the market
segment is.

                Bob Pendleton

> 
> >From: Ken Johnson <johnsk16@xxxxxxxxx>
> >Reply-To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: [gameprogrammer] Re: OpenGL reality check.
> >Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 23:02:52 -0700
> >
> > > Nothing's forcing you to use that desktop. There's another desktop that
> > > doesn't use DirectX. I don't recall ever saying it's a good thing.
> >
> >You are right, you didn't say that, I just assumed from previous
> >posts(my response with respects to your newest post below) that you
> >supported this change.
> >
> > >Microsoft isn't trying to kill OpenGL. They just aren't supporting it 
> >using
> > >the new desktop. The new desktop shell is using DirectX 10 to take 
> >advantage
> > >of the hardware. The old desktop is still available, which, as Microsoft 
> >had
> > >stated, will have support for up to GL 1.5. Beyond 1.5, Microsoft is 
> >leaving
> > >the support up to the individual card manufacturers, which is what's
> > >currently happening anyway.
> >
> >How is that not trying to kill it? Who wants to use the old desktop
> >when there is a newer flashier version? End users don't want the old,
> >they want the new, and the new doesn't support up to date OpenGL.
> >
> > >But, people are panicking because Vista's default desktop is using 
> >DirectX
> > >10, and will convert OpenGL calls to DirectX calls. These people are 
> >causing
> > >mass hysteria with no good reason to. They just refuse to find out 
> >accurate
> > >information.
> >
> >No good reason? As I said above, end users want the new stuff, if
> >OpenGL isn't supported to its newest versions, is slower, etc, who
> >would say to users, "Um, you gotta turn off the newest stuff, enable
> >the old desktop, just to play our game and have good performance."
> >
> >I see Microsoft doing what they do best, pushing their own standards
> >on the rest of the world, all packaged up in their OS. And you know
> >what? Yes, this is the best thing to do if your Microsoft. It is also
> >very bad for competition.
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
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