> This is assuming that the web needs to be a competitive app platform
This is one of the goals of HTML5.
> That is a huge assumption. Here, you're talking about Microsoft's own 3D API bound to their own VM, running on their own OS.
Whenever you have code that has access to low level API and hardware, you'll encounter the same issues. Look at the history of windows with running native code and all the security issues it has enabled, there is no question they will meet the same issues with 3D on silverlight.
> this is not about Microsoft.
It is about Microsoft. They also had tons of reasons not implement SVG because SilverLight was better and SVG had flaws according to Microsoft... until they added it to IE9 because it was turning popular. They'll try the same with WebGL, this is typical Microsoft behavior.
> So far, I haven't seen any response to the WebGL security issues stronger than "don't worry, we'll try really hard" and that is not very reassuring.
They said they will improve the specs to fix the issue. What else do you want?
> With regards to web security in general, everything that could conceivably go wrong up until now has.
The same could be said about native apps security. The real story here is that Microsoft doesn't want to implement WebGL for two very known reason:
1) It competes with Silvernight 3D
2) WebGL is based on OpenGL while Microsoft is pushing hard for Direct 3D. If webgl gets popular they'll have to implement WebGL on windows and developers might want to develop against it instead of D3D, although they could limit it to IE. Either way, it's not appealing to them, like SVG was when they still believed Silvernight would take off.
It is about Microsoft. They also had tons of reasons not implement SVG because SilverLight was better and SVG had flaws according to Microsoft... until they added it to IE9 because it was turning popular. They'll try the same with WebGL, this is typical Microsoft behavior.
Microsoft is not the only party criticizing WebGL and the motives of any such party are a separate issue. The technical problems with WebGL have been made clear and appeasing Microsoft or questioning their motives does not address those problems.
They said they will improve the specs to fix the issue. What else do you want?
Who said they will improve the specs and in what way? There are fixes for specific bugs, like cross-domain image loading. ARB_robustness is in the works, which is an implementation detail that might help somewhat. But I've seen nothing that claims to fix issues of the sort mentioned by Microsoft, just claims that they aren't really a problem.
And if WebGL is being fixed then why is it enabled in production browsers today?
This is one of the goals of HTML5.
> That is a huge assumption. Here, you're talking about Microsoft's own 3D API bound to their own VM, running on their own OS.
Whenever you have code that has access to low level API and hardware, you'll encounter the same issues. Look at the history of windows with running native code and all the security issues it has enabled, there is no question they will meet the same issues with 3D on silverlight.
> this is not about Microsoft.
It is about Microsoft. They also had tons of reasons not implement SVG because SilverLight was better and SVG had flaws according to Microsoft... until they added it to IE9 because it was turning popular. They'll try the same with WebGL, this is typical Microsoft behavior.
> So far, I haven't seen any response to the WebGL security issues stronger than "don't worry, we'll try really hard" and that is not very reassuring.
They said they will improve the specs to fix the issue. What else do you want?
> With regards to web security in general, everything that could conceivably go wrong up until now has.
The same could be said about native apps security. The real story here is that Microsoft doesn't want to implement WebGL for two very known reason:
1) It competes with Silvernight 3D
2) WebGL is based on OpenGL while Microsoft is pushing hard for Direct 3D. If webgl gets popular they'll have to implement WebGL on windows and developers might want to develop against it instead of D3D, although they could limit it to IE. Either way, it's not appealing to them, like SVG was when they still believed Silvernight would take off.