Hi,
not sure since when Microsoft has updated the OpenGL documentation, but it seems that since the BUILD event, OpenGL is now listed as legacy graphics technology.
You can see it here
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh309470(v=VS.85).aspx
On the build talk about using DirectX with Metro applications, the guy refrained from answering what is Microsoft’s position on OpenGL for Windows 8.
Don’t worry!
I remember the time when Microsoft said that Vista wouldn’t support OpenGL at all. But take a look now. Windows (both Vista and Win7) is now the best platform for developing desktop OpenGL applications. OK, maybe drivers work a little bit better (or at least faster) on XP, but that is maybe because they execute now on user level. We will see what Win8 will bring to us, but I don’t expect any revolutionary change.
You can see it here
That page also lists GDI and GDI+ as “legacy”. And since every current Windows application uses them, Microsoft would be foolish not to support them.
OpenGL support isn’t going anywhere. What matters is that “legacy” API won’t be supported on Win8 for ARM.
Don’t forget that GDI is no longer hardware-accelerated on Windows (since Vista), but nevertheless it still works fast enough. By the way, because of its low level organization, and for the pedagogical reasons, I’m still using GDI in my lectures. 
I only wanted to raise the community awareness to it, just in case Microsoft tries again as it did when Windows Vista came out.
Microsoft already have a very powerful 3D API, but I don’t think they would dare to exclude support for OpenGL in Windows 8. Anyway, thank you for the warning.
Can you point out to me exactly where that page (or anywhere else on MSDN for that matter) says that OpenGL is “legacy graphics technology”?
Guess what? It doesn’t. The version of OpenGL supported natively on Windows is 1.1 - even the most fervent anti-MS person wouldn’t argue that OpenGL 1.1 is definitely “legacy”.
The documentation itself is also “legacy documentation”; as in it hasn’t been updated in 15-odd years.
So please stop spreading this kind of FUD. Everybody with any knowledge of how OpenGL works on Windows knows that OpenGL is not and can never be legacy (owing to the driver model used).
FUD.
So please stop spreading this kind of FUD. Everybody with any knowledge of how OpenGL works on Windows knows that OpenGL is not and can never be legacy (owing to the driver model used).
What “kind of FUD” is being spread, exactly?
“Legacy” is not the same thing as “removed” or even “deprecated”. It means “not being updated anymore.” So what kind of FUD is being spread with this thread?
Well correct me if I’m wrong, but the OP did make a claim that MSDN is calling OpenGL a “legacy graphics technology”. The OP also did claim a wish to raise community awareness “just in case Microsoft tries again as it did when Vista came out”.
Neither of these are true.
MSDN’s OpenGL documentation is for OpenGL 1.1; that’s the “legacy” here.
In the Vista situation it was always clear that full OpenGL support would be present with a vendor-provided ICD. Certain more hysterical corners of the internet got considerable mileage out of claiming otherwise.
Source for the latter: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kamvedbrat/archive/2006/02/22/537624.aspx
So any kind of suggestion that Microsoft might do to OpenGL for Windows 8 what they tried to do with Vista is actually a good thing, because it means that they will support it fully. To imply otherwise is… well, FUD.
MSDN’s OpenGL documentation is for OpenGL 1.1; that’s the “legacy” here.
Do you honestly think that MSDN filing OpenGL under “legacy graphics” has anything to do with what version they directly support? They support the latest versions of GDI and GDI+, yet those are also considered “legacy graphics” APIs.
In the Vista situation it was always clear that full OpenGL support would be present with a vendor-provided ICD. Certain more hysterical corners of the internet got considerable mileage out of claiming otherwise.
Source for the latter: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kamvedbrat/archive/2006/02/22/537624.aspx
That’s not a source for your claim that “it was always clear that full OpenGL support would be present with a vendor-provided ICD.” That’s simply a source that says that Vista would support ICD. Whether that was “always clear” is something that you have yet to show.
Yes, some people did continue to ignore this once it was clarified. But that doesn’t mean people did not rightfully have fears before Microsoft actually provided information about what was going on. Especially with all of the other changes to the Windows graphics driver model that came with Vista.
So any kind of suggestion that Microsoft might do to OpenGL for Windows 8 what they tried to do with Vista is actually a good thing, because it means that they will support it fully. To imply otherwise is… well, FUD.
Except that we already know that there is at least one SKU of Windows 8 that will have no OpenGL support. Namely, the ARM port. Also, none of the other “legacy graphics” APIs will be supported on Win8-ARM. Maybe that’s why they put them in a box called “legacy graphics.”
Is it still “FUD” if it’s actually a reasonable fear with substantive evidence behind it? Microsoft is already starting to cull old things from at least one OS; why is it unreasonable to believe that they might do it from another?
In any case, NVIDIA loves OpenGL enough that they would probably back-door Microsoft’s attempts to remove it if they tried, by providing their own equivalent of the ICD model or some-such (as is done with OpenCL).
If you cared to watch the video, at the Q&A part, someone asks about OpenGL support, and gets “I cannot comment on that” as answer.
If you cared to watch the video, at the Q&A part, someone asks about OpenGL support, and gets “I cannot comment on that” as answer.
He was talking about Metro applications. Legacy APIs don’t work on Metro applications, so no GDI, GDI+, or OpenGL.
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