Microsoft calls graphics technology in Chrome and Firefox "harmful"

[djbaxter]

Microsoft calls graphics technology in Chrome and Firefox "harmful"
By Ed Bott, ZDNet
June 17, 2011

In an unusually blunt statement, Microsoft has announced that it considers the Khronos Group?s WebGL graphics technology too dangerous to support in Windows.


Currently, both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are shipping with support for WebGL. Google calls it ?the most powerful way to add 3D graphics to web pages? and encourages developers to ?experiment with graphics programming.? Mozilla pitches WebGL as ideal for ?interactive 3D games, vivid graphics and new visual experiences for the Web without the use of third-party plug-ins.?


Microsoft?s announcement, WebGL Considered Harmful, was published on the official blog of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and signed by MSRC Engineering. It was posted by swiat, which is short for Secure Windows Initiative Attack Team, the group that is responsible for the security architecture of Windows and other Microsoft products.

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[djbaxter]

Microsoft is right to label WebGL 'harmful'

Microsoft is right to label WebGL 'harmful'
By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet
June 17, 2011

While Firefox and Chrome browsers already support WebGL, along with development versions of Opera and Safari, Microsoft has said that it has no plans to make Internet Explorer support the 3D graphics software library, and branded it a ?harmful? technology.

Microsoft?s right.


Now don?t get me wrong, you can do cool stuff with WebGL. Really cool, impressive stuff that allows web browsers to deliver 3D graphics along the lines of a computer game. But the problem is that while you can do some really cool stuff with WebGL, because the technology gives web sites direct access the to low-level hardware functions, bad things can be done with it too.

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