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IE11 To Support WebGL
mikejuk writes "The biggest problem with IE10 as far as modern web apps go is its lack of WebGL support. Now we have strong evidence that IE11 will support WebGL. A leaked build of Windows 'Blue,' aka Windows 8.1, also contained an early version of IE11. Web developer François Remy decided to see what it was hiding and found that there were WebGL APIs, but they were non-functional. Rafael Rivera, who writes the Within Windows blog, dug a little deeper and discovered the registry keys that have to be changed to enable WebGL support. Apparently the API works so well that you can take existing WebGL programs (with OpenGL shaders) and just run them. As the implementation also supports DirectX HLSL shaders, it seems reasonable to guess that the implementation maps OpenGL to DirectX, thus avoiding Microsoft having to endorse OpenGL use."
The biggest problem with IE10 as far as modern web apps go is its lack of WebGL support.
Sounds like someone who has never had to support IE10 in anything remotely complex.
..was yesterday.
Just like Microsoft.. a day late and an API short. :P
-SS "Teach the ignorant, care for the dumb, and punish the stupid."
Will I have to upgrade to Windows Blue for this Internet Explorer 11, or will Windows 8 be enough? Somehow I suspect it won't be the latter.
IE11 is getting pretty awesome. I'm not a fan of WebGL but I do want my browser to support as many open standards as possible.
"it seems reasonable to guess that the implementation maps OpenGL to DirectX, thus avoiding Microsoft having to endorse OpenGL use."
No, more likely MS doesn't want to have to rely on vendors providing a working OpenGL driver, since that can be problematic (looking at you here ATi). If you have an accelerated Windows driver, a WDDM driver, it has DirectX support. That is how it works, just part of the spec. OpenGL, however, is an addon. Vendors can provide an OpenGL driver, or any other API they like, if they wish but it isn't an inherent part of the driver. They can choose not to provide them, or can provide broken ones.
So, would make sense for WebGl support to have something that does translation, so it works as long as you have a WDDM driver installed.
Welcome to 2011 Internet Explorer!
Yes, let's include another gaping security hole in Internet Explorer that allows direct access to a system's hardware from the browser!
May I assume that Windows 8.11 for Workgroups will be out soon?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
IE's problem isn't particular support in one area or another, it's that they take years to release new versions, thereby falling behind other browsers. They are never that bad on release, but fall behind other browsers that strive to remain current. But IE8 still has ~10% marketshare, and that was released 4 years ago. IE6 finally became negligible 2 years ago, after 10 years.
But they're starting to get better, IE10 was the least bad version and it only took them ~17 months to release it after IE9.
So far, for every version of Windows since 2000, Microsoft has provided at least one major upgrade to Internet Explorer. Windows 2000 shipped with IE 5 and got 6, Windows XP shipped with 6 and got 8, Windows Vista shipped with 7 and got 9, and Windows 7 shipped with 8 and got 10. So I'd be inclined to assume that Windows 8, which shipped with IE 10, will get IE 11.
Get those head mounted displays on.
Lawnmower man here i come.. huh chuckle cuckle.
Have to admit that i'm looking forward to doing web design that incorporated 3D objects.
Will there be a lot of chrome Victorian tea pots ot there?
Does IE 10 support the WebM plug-in like IE 9 did, or is its element MP4-only? I haven't been able to find solid evidence either way, nor do I own a Windows 8 box on which to try it myself.
Why is MS always behind the curve?
" LOOK how FAST ie10 is. You can play a GAME on it. TOUCHSCREENS!!!!. We are FINALLY SECURITY!"
Man all those ads were quite annoying, and rather false.
I'm sure both users of IE11 will be thrilled to hear it.
You don't want to rely on a host OpenGL driver since OpenGL isn't the native interface for Windows.
Heck translation might be good even on a GL system, since ES isn't directly compatible with normal OpenGL unless you have a 4.1 or better setup which requires a fairly new card (GeForce 400 or newer in nVidia's case). I don't know of any Intel GPUs that do GL 4.1 yet, even Ivy Bridge is still 3.1.
So regardless of platform, it could make a lot of sense to implement it as a translation system, and then just choose the target of translation based off of what it is running on.
Since when does anyone care what IE supports. It's the worst browser available.
.
Give it up, Microsoft. Your time was Windows 95, and that time has passed.
The biggest problem with IE10 as far as modern web apps go is its lack of WebGL support
wrong. the biggest problem with ie10 is ie10.
what's the meme for crap like this, "first sentence made no sense whatsoever;dr"?
I just saw a commit in the Git repo of WebKit about a built-in BASIC interpreter. I do not know who is that bill.gates@microsoft.com guy, but I suspect that MS makes IE11 WebKit based.
Although I do hope that IE11 gets released to Windows 7.
Here is my thinking - I love WebGL, but I don't see it really taking off unless IE supports it (granted, IE is loosing market share, but that's another topic). However, Windows 8 seems to be a bigger bust for Microsoft than Vista and ME was. So, if IE11 is exclusive to Windows 8, that still means that the default webbrowser used by a good portion of the web users won't support it.
Probably why many webpages still look like they did 10 years ago, websites are writing to the lowest common denominator - ie IE (no pun intended) 6 and 7.
.. which means that as usual IE will be holding back web development for another 5 years. I am being serious. This is an ongoing problem for anyone who developers client-facing sites especially when long-term support is part of the requirement. Most companies simply can't justify having one group of engineers working on WebGL and then another group working on some other IE-only implementation... they do not have resources like this. You have limited resources and need to choose one solution that works across as many users as possible. And as much as the /. crowd hates to admit it, IE still comprises a good 40% of the browser share so something that excludes those people is not an option. Which means WebGL will not be a mainstream option for more years to come because a) IE drug their feet in adoption, and b) they won't move to a rapid release cycle.
Apparently the API works so well that you can take existing WebGL programs (with OpenGL shaders) and just run them
Well yes, that's what "WebGL support" means.