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OpenGL 1.5
Yogijalla writes "SGI and OpenGL ARB just announced
the OpenGL 1.5 specification, introducing support for a new OGL Shading Language. Also, check out the new Java bindings to OpenGL.
OGL 1.5 is a step towards the OGL 2.0, already suggested 2.0 by 3DLabs." Also worth pointing out that OpenML SDK has been released as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if OpenGL 1.5 is largely based on the work that Carmack has done on DOOM III.
> I've heard the comments before that Direct3D/Quickdraw3D are "high-level" standards, and OpenGL is a "low level" standard
Yep, Direct3D does try to bring in the programmer at the higher level, and it does limit the programmer if they're programming anything other than games. That's because Direct3D (and DirectX in general) is meant for games in the first place; other media-intensive apps are somewhat secondary, although they can be done in DirectX, and for that particular application you have DirectShow (which used to be separate from DirectX, FYI, but is now part of it. I don't know why, but Microsoft said so.)
I think Direct3D is more of that two-level standard you're trying to elaborate on. In fact, for a while Direct3D really is defined like that--it used to have a "retained mode" for high-level apps and an "immediate mode" for low-level ones. (They've since unified it into one immediate mode and did away with retained mode altogether.)
The primary users of OpenGL, on the other hand, have been on the field for ages already, which means that they probably have all of the higher level stuff as part of their intellectual property. Using another vendor's API for what they already have is generally a dumb thing to do (lost productivity due to the fact that most of their apps are written in their old, working libraries already, and rewriting them in Direct3DX is tedious and error-prone). Besides, OpenGL clearly defined itself as a standard for displaying high-performance graphics, and helping the programmer on his other tasks (representing models, parameterizing the effects he can do in his engine, etc.) isn't really part of that goal.
Pet peeve: Profane people propagating perfunctory pedantry.
It's sad but true; Carmack's probably the one person out there with the biggest influence on new revisions of the OpenGL spec.
As to whether or not it's largely based on his work, however, that's another story. Honestly, there are tons of people working on the same thing that Carmack is. He's just the most well known, with the biggest profile. The technology behind Doom III, while interesting, really is just a natural, next logical extension of the current state of 3D graphics.