eeek! M$ and OpenGL?!

S

suzerain

Owner, Mac Game Database
This article disturbs me.

Yes, it's light on details, and so we shouldn't read too much into this.

However, if SGI has sold Microsoft patents related to OpenGL, then Apple is in a potentially very bad situation. Apple has no 3D API, and creating one requires more than just programming; you need to have graphics chip makers on board, and years to bring developers around.

3D is becoming more and more important, in gaming, and in the general application market, and so the fact that Apple might have to pay license fees to Microsoft is...well...scary.

Mostly I just think that because if I were Microsoft...well...I'd try to freeze OpenGL development (and what better way than to own the patents), and then push DirectX as the only 3D API worth a salt, and perpetually keep the Mac one or two generations behind the current product (exactly like they do to us with Internet Exploder, which is a completely useless piece of crap on the Mac, especially when compared to their Windows version).

Anyone think I'm crazy?
 
You aren't crazy, though if Microsoft tried it on it would be very illegal and anti-trust. Proving it would be another matter though. Unfortunately with that pretzel maniac Bush in the white house M$ could probably get away with anything.
 
I SAY WE GRAB OUR PICH-FORKS, AND TRACKTOR TRAILERS AND RUN DOWN EVERY MAJOR PC VENDOR IN THE TRI-STATE AREA (excluding the apple sotes ofcourse ) :D
 
hey rob,

it's not a case of liking or disliking him - it is just a case of the US government dropping all charges as soon as george got into office (coincidence?), and a small dig at his inability to cope with Mr Salty.
 
No good came come from this. I think M$ purchased the OpenGL patents to phase it out and to screw Apple and the rest of the industry into pushing DirectX. SGI must REALLY be hurting to do something like this. It will in the end, hurt the industry, including tarnishing SGI's image. I don't care what short term effects this has for the SGI stock holders (cash infusion), it's the long term that investers should be concerned with. Hopefully, a new OpenGL-like graphics layer will be developed by someone.
 
I personally think that OpenGL has been pervasive enough through the open source communities and graphics hardware vendors that Microsoft would take ridiculous heat for messing with it, especially people working with 3D using standardized libraries like SDL/etc.
 
This makes me scratch my noggin. Windows has minimal support of OpenGL now. They've basically dropped it in support of DirectX. Why would they want all the patents for it?
 
Perhaps they're just buying it to cover themselves legally, and have no intention of doing ANYTHING with it. They'll just leave it on a shelf to go stale.
 
Leverage.

at the very least MS will use these as Leverage
to gradually weaken OpenGL. We will whine
and complain, but no one will come close to
busting MS's balls, not with this administration.
 
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