Here’s another amusing blog post about why one should use OpenGL instead of DirectX (not even Direct3D). Anyone who has been following my posts on OpenGL knows that ever since the release of 3.0, I have not been able to bring myself to support any of Khronos’ efforts.
Now that the 3.2 specification is out, the API seems to be headed in the right direction but I fear that it’s just too little too late. Whereas OpenGL 3.2 seems to have targeted D3D 10 feverishly, Microsoft was already working on a new iteration of Direct3D in the background. Direct3D 11 once again leaves OpenGL to play catch-up, which they will, but likely too late.
OpenGL has one thing going for it that Direct3D doesn’t: cross-platform compatibility. If you really have to develop for multiple platforms, use OpenGL. If you just develop for Windows/360, use Direct3D. It almost seems as if we’re at that great “games versus industrial application” API divide again. Any momentum that OpenGL might have gained with 2.1, it has lost with its release of 3.0.
Here’s a great article by Tom’s Hardware explaining the issues better than I ever could.
Oh and a happy new year, by the way…