Microsoft Corp wasn’t letting on when Windows NT 4.0 made its gold release a few weeks ago, but it had included a new version of OpenGL. Instead they saved up the news to announce at Siggraph. OpenGL 1.1 implements specifications approved by the OpenGL Architectural Review board at the beginning of the year, and uses an enhanced rendering pipeline rated two to four times faster than the original OpenGL. The new specifications also define methods of encapsulating geometric data and handling multiple textures. It makes OpenGL fast enough to use without graphics acceleration hardware, at least for non-demanding applications. Silicon Graphics Inc came out with its new version of OpenGL a week before, but Microsoft says its version includes a simpler client-driver model that enables hardware manufacturers to take advantage of the software rendering pipeline.
