

WebGL support in iOS 5 only available to iAd developers - nephics
https://www.khronos.org/webgl/public-mailing-list/archives/1106/msg00036.html

======
sjs
Oh boy here we go... queue the comments about how Apple hates your cat or
whatever ridiculous theory people will invent to explain this.

Apple is testing WebGL. Introducing it in iAds is a pilot and will allow them
to shake out bugs and such. This is a good thing as it means that WebGL is
coming to iOS soon.

~~~
hahainternet
Apple is testing iOS5. Why would they need another testing period focusing on
a specific subset of WebGL applications?

Wouldn't WebGL be better tested by putting it in iOS5 now and letting the
(tens of? hundreds of?) thousands of beta testers destroy it?

~~~
sjs
Apple often uses frameworks itself in one generation of the OS (Mac or iOS)
and then makes it public in the next release after they've worked out the
kinks. This is similar, they are testing out WebGL in something under their
thumb that they control tightly, it just happens to be less private than usual
as 3rd parties will get to bang on it with iAds.

------
chc
Although it's easy to look at this in a sinister light, the simpler
explanation IMO is just that Apple doesn't feel entirely comfortable with its
implementation of WebGL on iOS and wants to be able to screen apps instead of
turning it into iOS's Flash.

~~~
pagekalisedown
In light of this: <http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/>
I think it's just their way to fight back against Facebook.

~~~
ddagradi
It's hard to fight back against a project that hasn't been released, nor
talked about until yesterday.

------
sudont
I assume there's probably a risk of arbitrary code execution, which is mostly
mitigated by vetting each ad. Too bad though, would be nice to see what could
be built for iOS web apps.

~~~
rvkennedy
I'd love to know what the imagined risk would be - as far as I can see the
only additional capability from WebGL against regular JavaScript is to send
commands and data to and from the GPU. What harm can that do?

~~~
daeken
There are a few issues here. One is that bugs in the GPU itself can enable
memory corruption (and thus code execution), and the other is that GPU drivers
are notoriously buggy and huge, making a large attack surface. I can't blame
them for being concerned in this case -- opening the GPU to web developers at
large opens up a huge can of worms.

~~~
nkassis
I hope that Apple has enough clout with their GPU providers to get them to fix
their driver bugs and implement ARB_Robustness. Seriously if someone can get a
good and safe implementation of WebGL it's apple. They own the hardware and
the software.

------
MatthewPhillips
Did they fix the bug from 4.3 where home screen web apps don't use Nitro?

~~~
Xuzz
This is probably breaking my NDA to say this, but yes, they did. Web.app now
has the "dynamic-codesigning" entitlement, which enables Nitro.

~~~
lukifer
What about UIWebViews? I believe I've read that they do not yet gain the Nitro
benefits.

~~~
Xuzz
They don't, but that's a security restriction. They can't give dynamic-
codesigning to all apps, or their security (which that disables, as a
requirement to enable the JIT) would then be useless.

------
sdbryan
How does this make any sense? Apps from the iOS App Store can use webkit views
where webGL could apply but native apps have had direct access to OpenGL ES
for years (only the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and the first iPod touch iOS
devices did not have a GPU and hence no OpenGL). I was pretty sure iAds only
ran in native apps and hence could use OpenGL directly. So why would iAd
developers have any interest in using WebGL.

Obviously web site developers and HTML5 app developers care very much for
WebGL access in mobile safari. If Apple 'artificially' holds back WebGL they
will just be shooting themselves in the foot. Imagine the damage if other pad
platforms allow interactive, 3D web browsing and the iPad does not. It would
be suicidal.

~~~
mambodog
_I was pretty sure iAds only ran in native apps and hence could use OpenGL
directly_

And that would be the flawed assumption that has led to your confusion.

iAds are built with HTML/CSS/JS only, not native code.

------
podperson
Aside from the security concerns, I suspect Apple would prefer game developers
to write native apps rather than find itself constantly being benchmarked
against last night's custom build of Android or Chrome or Firefox running a
WebGL game no-one actually plays.

------
nextparadigms
I wonder if this means WebGL will be in Android ICS. Sony Ericsson has already
showed some demo in WebGL on a phone earlier this year, if Apple is starting
to implement it in iOS already, then Google could do it, too. I just wonder if
they considered it a priority, because when asked about WebGL coming to
Android's mobile browser at I/O, the WebGL guys weren't too sure if that will
happen anytime soon. But I sure hope so! Upcoming dual core and quad core
chips should be able to take advantage of it somewhat.

------
etherealG
does this mean these won't be any support for websites that use webgl in the
browser natively at all?

what if I make a webgl site and someone goes to it on an ipad, will it just
refuse to work like IE?

~~~
trotsky
Yes, which is the same answer you'd get for java, flash, silverlight, etc.

------
joelackner
at least it's one step forward to bring webgl to tablets...

