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Microsoft Brands WebGL a 'Harmful' Technology
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has announced that it has no plans to support WebGL — a cross-platform low-level 3D graphics API designed for web use — in its future browsers, citing numerous security concerns over the technology and branding the basic principles as 'harmful.'"
I am relieved that sliverlight will never support such harmful technology!
Maybe Processing has them scared as shit. Not only does it do OpenGL acceleration in a browser, but it's also open source and nearly a drop-in replacement for Flash or Silverlight.
What they mean by "security" is not what everyone else means. Security is just the biggest argument in the FUD arsenal. They mean control, to secure their bottom line.
For 25 plus years, that's been MS's real goal. They tried to kill off Ogg Vorbis over "insecurity"-- the supposed insecurity of no built in DRM. Security was probably one of the arguments they used to push OOXML over ODF when they were trying to maintain their file format lockdown. Talk about an outdated tactic, but then, MS has been slipping for some time now. They would have tried the old line suggesting no one would maintain the software without a large company backing it, another FUD favorite, but even they must see no one would buy that any more. And yet, they can't see the uselessness of the entire Windows Genuine Advantage program.
What specifically could they be trying to promote in place of webGL? Silverlight?
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
Don't you just hate it when Microsoft takes the high road on security and raises some valid points. We've been through this scenario a bunch of times where some class of programs that used to only be used by local programs became accessible on the web and suddenly there is a rash of exploits (jpeg and pdf come to mind), I'd rather not go through it again.
That said, I think Microsoft laid out the problems with enough specificity that they could be addressed.
Something tells me they wouldn't create ActiveX today... they've had well over a decade to learn how bad the technology actually is, and try to mitigate their mistakes with it. It doesn't surprise me they'd make comments on WebGL like this today in 2011. A lot can happen in 15 years.
Yes, they did. However, with WebGL, they actually have a good and factual point. There ARE security flaws in it that MUST be addressed.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Oh please! Can you and the other fanbois be any more full of shit? Lets look at the facts, shall we? What is currently the most buggy driver on ANY system by a LARGE margin...hmmm? Why that would be the graphics drivers by a mile. So what does OpenGL do? Why it allows untrusted third party code to run on the buggiest drivers and NOBODY here sees that as a problem?
The ONLY reason machines aren't getting pwned by the graphics cards is because currently the ONLY things running on them are legitimate code written by game designers and adding sanity checks or any kind of security to graphics drivers would slow the living shit out of them so that's right out. Do you REALLY want the entire web to be able to run any code they want on that nice fast processor with plenty of RAM for loading exploits and with no real security protecting it? Because if you honestly believe that OpenGL wouldn't be a malware writers paradise I have a bridge you might be interested in.
MSFT has already made developers shit bricks by going HTML V5, which will probably cause the slow death of SL and .Net, at least on the client side, so your theory doesn't hold weight. But after finally getting security right with Windows 7 (only 4 per 1000 infected vs 14 per 1000 infected with XP IIRC) they sure as hell don't want to hand the keys to the kingdom over to the WWW. Hell considering how much JavaScript malware is out there you don't think giving malware writers their own processor and RAM wouldn't be exploited out the ass? Please!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.