Today Silicon Graphics and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) announced OpenGL 2.0 at the SIGGRAPH 2004 tradeshow. This news isn"t just exciting for OpenGL 2.0 developers but also for users. Already OpenGL has more than 60 hardware developer licensees. This is more than any openly licensed graphics API, and with what OpenGL offers is it any surprised.
One of OpenGL 2.0 key features is its new Shading Language, which went through over a year of extensive testing. This Shading Language allows for stunning graphics. Potential applications include cinematic quality images for games and visually more realistic training/simulation programs. Other new features include multiple render targets, improved performance of shadow volume, and Visual Area Networking.
With all the great things OpenGL 2.0 offers it"s going to give Microsoft"s DirectX a run for its money. Gamers won"t be the only people benefiting from this release. Mac users too will be benefit from OpenGL 2.0. Apple hasn"t official announced support for this new standard, but I don"t see why they wouldn"t sometime in the future. After all Apple"s invested quite a lot of its resources in OpenGL (OS X). Still I can"t wait to see what OpenGL 2.0 can really do.