Will Vista Break CAD?

CAD software makes use of OpenGL to create those interactive, fully-rendered, real-time zoom-and-pan 3D graphics of complex models. There is some early indication that the next release of Windows breaks OpenGL.

Over at the offical OpenGL discussion forum, administrator Metro reports that Windows Vista is layering OpenGL over Direct3D. For CAD users, this means that:

"* OpenGL performance will be significantly reduced - perhaps as much as 50%
* OpenGL on Windows will be fixed at a vanilla version of OpenGL 1.4
* No extensions will be possible to expose future hardware innovations"

It is possible to resurect OpenGL to its full performance, but that means the loss of the "eye candy" effects on the Vista desktop.

The other possibility for CAD vendors is to rewrite their software to work with Microsoft's proprietary display interface -- possible, but unlikely due to the cost, time, and danger of breaking the software, all for a very small market.

P.S.

"Meanwhile, Cringefan Ken M. points out that VISTA is really an acronym for Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans, and Adware. That’s clarity for you." - ROBERT X. CRINGELY

Comments

[Mike]

Good thing that Alibre Desing is one of the few with DirectX-support instead of Open GL then :-)

[Lee Lynch]

As someone who is actively doing CAD every day on Vista, here is my first hand response to these claims:

"* OpenGL performance will be significantly reduced - perhaps as much as 50%"

This is not the case in my experience. My Laptop running Vista runs CAD faster than my work desktop, which has comparable hardware.

"It is possible to resurect OpenGL to its full performance, but that means the loss of the "eye candy" effects on the Vista desktop."

So? I don't look at the translucent glass effects around my windows when doing CAD, do you?