> Reading the presentations I didn't read anything of the > original proposal to provide a backwards compatibility layer > for GL2.x on top of GL3. Is this proposal now dropped?
My understanding from the OpenGL BOF is that current hardware is already OpenGL 3-like, so current drivers are essentially OpenGL 2 layered on top of OpenGL 3 hardware. I believe the plan for most vendors is to allow apps to create either an OpenGL 2 or OpenGL 3 context at startup, then use the appropriate API for that context. Not sure whether mixing heterogeneous contexts in a single app would be allowed, but it seems theoretically possible based on what I heard. Gordon? Mike? Did either of you get this same impression or was I dozing and dreaming this? (It was at the end of a long day...) On a related topic, I understand there will be a convenience library of shaders to mimic old fixed function features. > Did the vendors give any hint as the timeline they expect? Nothing specific. We were told "vendors have OpenGL 3 drivers in development, of course the spec needs to be finalized first". The latency for public OpenGL 2.0 drivers was ~6 months IIRC and I imagine this might be comparable. It doesn't sound like this will require radically new hardware beyond what already exists. > Will 2.x still be supported in 5 years? I can imagine that a > large number of apps would still not be ported by then. If the PEX/PHIGS/GL ISV shift to OpenGL 1.x is any indication, 5-6 years sounds about right. OpenGL 1.0 came out in 1992 and by 1998 most all ISVs had abandoned PEX, PHIGS, Starbase, et al. Perhaps this shift will happen quicker, as OpenGL 3 hardware is already out, there are fewer IHVs nowadays, and OpenGL is already widely accepted and has a proven track record. Paul Martz Skew Matrix Software LLC http://www.skew-matrix.com 303 859 9466 _______________________________________________ osg-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openscenegraph.org/listinfo.cgi/osg-users-openscenegraph.org
