Re: OpenGL in VISTA

"fungus" <umailMY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6EgKh.2475$ak1.1486@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Microsoft has basically crippled OpenGL in Vista.
All the things which can make OpenGL as fast as
Direct3D have been removed.

Under Windows Vista, an NVidia GeForce 7600 GT, ForceWare
version 100.64, I ran my "Castle" sample application that ships
with Wild Magic. This application has a lot of data to render
and is one of my slowest. The results when I launch the
application (effectively all scene data is processed by the
renderer):

OpenGL: 157 fps
DirectX: 113 fps

Maybe you can find specific OpenGL features that are slower
than the equivalent in DirectX, but I see no "crippling" here.

What is "crippled" is Vista itself. In my opinion, it is not yet
ready for prime time. The MS folks can point fingers at all the
other software vendors and claim that the problem is their
failure to immediately provide updated software to run on Vista,
but for consumers such as myself, this is not an acceptable
stance to take. We expect that an OS does what it is supposed
to do. I made the mistake of updating to Vista, having enough
problems that I split my two-drive RAID system into separate
drives and purchased Windows XP to put on the other drive.
(My pre-Vista Windows XP was from Dell and preinstalled on a
separate partition. The Vista install somehow disabled the ability
to access Dell Restore, even though the partition was preserved.)

Some of the problems:

* Visual Studio .NET 2005 (VS) crashed. Turns out that the problem
was Compuware's DevPartner Studio 8. I had to uninstall it so
VS would run. (The dual boot for Windows XP is to allow me to run
this ONE tool...)

* The User Account Control is quite annoying. You have to run
VS using the right-click option "Run as Administrator". Double-click
on *.sln or *.vcproj files does not launch VS (nothing happens), nor
is there the "Run as Administrator" option on a right-click menu.
The axiom we had for NetImmerse/Gamebryo development was:
Never punish the smart people because of the stupid ones. Vista
appears to be punishing the smart people. (Yes, I know you can
disable UAC, but the MS zealots are critical when you suggest
doing that.)

* VS has some multithreading problems. Many times a build fails
because the "manifest" cannot be embedded in the *.exe. Apparently,
this attempt to embed is occurring while the linker is creating the *.exe
file but the *.exe file is locked. After the error, a "Build" will not
work.
You have to "Rebuild".

* WS_FTP fails to work (now displays a dialog that says it is a trial
version, but the controls to enter a registration code are grayed out).

* Adobe PDF Reader 7.x has some problems. Attempts to access the
menu bar works, a menu appears, and then stays there for minutes.
Eventually, you can actually do something on your computer.

* Windows Explorer fails on a regular basis. An error message is
displayed with on helpful information, but then W.E. just exits.
Also, sometimes you double-click on a file (like a *.cpp file) and
you get an error message about "not able to find file".

* CTRL+ALT+DEL to get to a menu to launch Task Manager fails
sometimes (or takes a LONG time to display that menu) with a dialog
about something related to security.

* Many times on "shutdown", the machine locks.

*Generally, programs are slow, even though I have a dual-core 3.2Ghz
system with 4GB of memory.

Surprisingly, 3dsmax9 runs in administrator mode (one of their plugins
fails to load due to an attempt to access memory not owned by the
plugin) and Maya8 runs in user mode. And I actually like Windows Mail
(a blend between Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook).

I like the look-and-feel of Vista, but I wish that more of the kinks had
been worked out before shipping. I guess when you have millions of
customers, you can get away with shipping software that should have
percolated some more. A smaller company would be in serious trouble
doing this...

--
Dave Eberly
http://www.geometrictools.com


.

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