I’ve been on OpenGL devotee for some time now, but I am getting wet feet because I’ve heard precious little about the future of OpenGL recently, especially regarding the geometry-shader tech that will be available in the next gen of hardware.
I’ve seen mention of a new clean interface that will be closer to the hardware, plus a historic layer on top. Is this happening? Is the ARB meeting anymore? Are they devoting their time to embedded devices (khronos)? Their last meeting that was publicly posted was from December 2004!
They are meeting, they just decided that they don’t publish meeting notes anymore.
This enables vendors to discuss implementation matters more freely. Before that decision, many vendors hesitated to discuss such things in the ARB, because they don’t want them to be public.
I sure hope we’ll get at least some feedback on the progress anytime soon. Perhaps some ARB insider could comment on this, or give an approximate time frame?
Good questions! Hang on in there for a bit longer. The ARB indeed is no longer posting meeting notes, but we are going to release a newsletter on a regular basis. The first edition of that newsletter will be ready soon.
Also, if you’re at Siggraph come to the OpenGL BOF. You’ll get a lot of status update there.
I only proposed the newsletter two weeks ago in response to the results of our opengl.org poll, but already we have most of the content for the first issue ready to roll. Our goal is a pre-Siggraph release, so help is on the way!
Thanks for being an OpenGL devotee for so long, and I hope we can keep you onboard.
The silence has indeed been somewhat disturbing, but put into a context of “vendor secrecy” it, in a way, makes much more sense with a newsletter than actual minutes.
What I could worry about is - is there someone/company/organization/thing/<whatever> that will try to assure the continuity of this? It sounds like a very good idea (thanks Benj!), but what happens in a year, or five, when the one(s) actually wanting to communicate to the public what the ARB is doing, and perhaps also seriously considering, leaves for greener pastures? Is there a plan to keep it going?
Call me crazy, but I keep turning down the greener pastures to stay with OpenGL.
I will at least shepherd this newsletter through its first several issues until it becomes routine. (At that point I can safely be hit by a bus without it affecting our precious OpenGL communications.)
New ARB initiatives tend to require an internal champion to get the ball rolling, even when everyone agrees it’s a great idea. My experience with past initiatives, and my hope for this newsletter, is that once it gains momentum, it will continue moving on its own. And if not, a new champion someone/company/organization/thing/<whatever> will come along to carry the torch. I have plenty of optimism, as naive or misguided as it may be, surrounding OpenGL’s future.
