Microsoft/Intel/SGI 3D Consortium
Micosoft, Intel, and Silicon Graphics(SGI) have teamed up to develop a new 3D API, named Fahrenheit. The three of them will now try to CRUSH any ideas of an "evil" open standard.
The big question now is; will Fahrenheit Scene Graph come free with Windows 2000? One possibility is that Fahrenheit low-level will be built-in free(like OpenGL), but that we will have to pay seperately for Scene Graph. If this is the case, then this is a big step backwards, and it would make OpenGL even more attractive.
Why Fahrenheit? Each company in the triumvirate has their reasons:
MICROSOFT: It was no Industry secret that Direct3D was only outdueling OpenGL because of Microsoft's influence. But now, Microsoft can make more money, and control more market share by letting SGI into the bed.
SGI: SGI was desperate, they were being overtaken at the low end of the high-dollar simulator market, and their stock price was dropping like a Lead Zeppelin. A typical SGI simulation system can cost from $50,000 to $2,000,000 - I have a Celeron333/3dFX system that competes with a $120,000 Onyx Reality Engine. SGI will now build Fahrenheit/Intel-based PCs that supposedly have an architecture designed to keep them ahead of the 3dFX-types - at least for the next year or two. I believe they must have agreed to pick up major costs of developing the API, and provide a major portion of the development team, in exchange for getting a leg up on the competition by knowing the standard on PCs before anyone else(having developed it themselves!). Man! Does Microsoft control the market or what?
Intel: Intel will now be assurred that only their proprietary MMX version X technology will be supported initially(poop on 3DNow!), and SGI will only use Intel chips in their computers.
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