OpenGL 3.1 : A breath of fresh air

Well, since I already made a post (an angry post I daresay ) about OpenGL 3.0, I think it is about time to make a post about OpenGL 3.1, now that is out.
I actually kept an eye open for the new release, promised to be released 6 months after the initial release. It was late and I thought we were dealing with broken promises again, but it actually wasn’t the case for it, they delayed the release for completing some of the features (Uniform Buffer Objects or UBO). The specification has also some sought after features such as instancing and the neat feature of being able to send buffers from OpenGL to OpenCL.
To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that what OpenGL 3.1 specification carried, were features highly sought after by the OpenGL developers, judging by the posts made previously when the OpenGL ARB asked for feature requests.
Although OpenGL ARB has failed us before (more than once), they managed to release something that was of help to the OpenGL community, Now if they really add the Direct Access Specifications and ATI manages to relese useful drivers… either way, a “Good job” for the OpenGL ARB this time.

“Earth” hour, the Google version

 
I find it both funny and sad when things like these happen.

Now we all know Google is a nice and fluffy company that goes out of it’s way to encourage people to battle global warming…well not really.

Well, this stern reminder is part of what reminds you that stuff like this, is less than of a “community service” than a marketing campaign. Needless to say, such programs can increase the traffic to Youtube which Google owns, as well as any other service that Google manages to squeeze in.

The true irony is that friendship and telorance can help Earth in more than one way, either indirectly by making people worry about things that matter more about what is important (but that makes many people unhappy, doesn’t it ) or avert a war that can directly impact global warming (though there are far more important things involved in a war to worry about)

And this is not my only gripe with Google, consider this example : Google code, well known for hosting many OpenSource projects, is also blocked for Iranians, and such limitations go directly against the spirit of GPL, but again, why should Google host and award free projects anyways ?

And I still meet people that are totally in love with Google, sigh…