Microsoft Gets OpenGL 4.3 Implemented Atop Direct3D 12 With Mesa

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Microsoft Gets OpenGL 4.3 Implemented Atop Direct3D 12 With Mesa

Microsoft engineers continue working on the Mesa drivers as part of their effort for implementing various industry standard APIs atop Direct3D 12. This support can be used in cases of Windows drivers lacking for these APIs as well as being used within WSL for the graphics support while relying on D3D12 with the host environment...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/OpenGL-4.3-D3D12-Mesa

[zexelon]

If Microsoft could stop making their OS the ultimate spam factory it would really be worth using! I had to go back to windows 10 because all the adds were getting to much... and Windows 11 actually has some really nice window management features, but it was trashed by all the other spamming crap they jammed in.

Give me a reasonable product for a reasonable price and then stay out of my face. I will keep using it on those conditions!

As it stands Linux gives me a very reasonable product at NO PRICE! And it doesn't even spam me!

[rmfx]

Microsoft is really like the kid that says can I join you? to then bring his own toys and do not share.

Rather than redoing what Zink already does well, they could contribute to it to make it better, (or give a 10 million usd tip a year to Mesa), but no, they come and do their proprietary based shit for dx12 nobody asked for....

[theuserbl]

And then there are graphic cards, which supporting only the Direct3D 12 API, but not OpenGL 4.3 API.

On Windows there running then both: DirectX 12 programs and OpenGL 4.3 programs.
But on native Linux running then none of it.

[carguello2]

Rather than redoing what Zink already does well, they could contribute to it to make it better... but no, they come and do their proprietary based shit for dx12 nobody asked for...

What makes you think they are implementing these changes for end-users? Just like any other company, they may have some large client that is interested in WSL and the possibility of running graphic accelerated applications in WSL.

[andyprough]

I don't see any profitable business-related reason for Microsoft to be working on integrating the GNU/Linux graphics stack, unless they are planning to re-base Windows on it in the future in some kind of WinNT/Linux kind of hybrid setup. They may have decided that they can cut costs by ditching a lot of the maintenance of their own OS and just ride the back of the open source software community to riches like Apple did with NetBSD.

[werfu]

I think you're all missing the point there. I don't think that M$ is doing this work to get Wayland or X11 windowing system working inside WSL2 as their main goal, but more than likely it's all for the Windows subsystem for Android. Microsoft killed off Windows Phone and Nadella himself told it was an error to do so. I really think that Microsoft will be relaunching some new phone ecosystem midterm, especially with the work they've done with ARM support. They'd leverage an NT base with a WSA layer and Microsoft Store, probably allowing devs to publish Android apps directly on MS Store.

[Eirikr1848]

Then Apple can’t bother do do GL on Metal or contribute to MoltenVK

[uid313]

If Microsoft could stop making their OS the ultimate spam factory it would really be worth using! I had to go back to windows 10 because all the adds were getting to much... and Windows 11 actually has some really nice window management features, but it was trashed by all the other spamming crap they jammed in.

Give me a reasonable product for a reasonable price and then stay out of my face. I will keep using it on those conditions!

As it stands Linux gives me a very reasonable product at NO PRICE! And it doesn't even spam me!

We have Windows 11 at work, and I haven't experienced any of this "spam" that you mention. No idea what you're talking about, there are no spam in Windows 11. Overall Windows 11 is really nice, but Edge is rather bloated. At home I run Linux though.

Microsoft is really like the kid that says can I join you? to then bring his own toys and do not share.

Rather than redoing what Zink already does well, they could contribute to it to make it better, (or give a 10 million usd tip a year to Mesa), but no, they come and do their proprietary based shit for dx12 nobody asked for....

I love all the toys that Microsoft shared with us!
VS Code, .NET, ASP.NET Core, EF Core, TypeScript, and more!

I don't see any profitable business-related reason for Microsoft to be working on integrating the GNU/Linux graphics stack, unless they are planning to re-base Windows on it in the future in some kind of WinNT/Linux kind of hybrid setup. They may have decided that they can cut costs by ditching a lot of the maintenance of their own OS and just ride the back of the open source software community to riches like Apple did with NetBSD.

Microsoft are working on Mesa because it used by WSL on Windows. This way you can run graphical Linux applications under Windows through WSL.

[andyprough]

I think you're all missing the point there. I don't think that M$ is doing this work to get Wayland or X11 windowing system working inside WSL2 as their main goal, but more than likely it's all for the Windows subsystem for Android. Microsoft killed off Windows Phone and Nadella himself told it was an error to do so. I really think that Microsoft will be relaunching some new phone ecosystem midterm, especially with the work they've done with ARM support. They'd leverage an NT base with a WSA layer and Microsoft Store, probably allowing devs to publish Android apps directly on MS Store.

You may be onto something there.

We have Windows 11 at work, and I haven't experienced any of this "spam" that you mention. No idea what you're talking about, there are no spam in Windows 11.

It's been extremely widely reported on in the tech press and commented on by users that Microsoft is spamming them with advertising in various areas in Windows 11, including in the Start menu and in the new Co-pilot among other areas. You probably aren't seeing it because you are on some type of an enterprise setup that is different from the consumer version.

Microsoft are working on Mesa because it used by WSL on Windows. This way you can run graphical Linux applications under Windows through WSL.

As I stated in the original post, that's not something at first glance that appears to be a profitable business-related activity; i.e., MS is not going to make more money by having better graphics effects in WSL. No one is going to pay any money to Microsoft to give them a superior gaming or video watching experience in WSL on Windows.