Re: [PyOpenGL-Users] Choice of OpenGL version for new application?

[Ian M. <geo...@gm...>]

It's a classic debate--newness or backwards compatibility.  However, in
this case, it's much simpler:

I hate OpenGL 3 and 4.  They're not an improvement over OpenGL 2, and
moreover they do away with nice things (e.g., glVertex, matrices, etc.).
About the only thing they do that's good is make some extensions into core
functionality.  There's something to be said for that, but often it's
nothing that's precluded just by using those extensions in the first place.

I find that OpenGL 2 is perfectly sufficient.  It has all the extensions I
want for advanced functionality, and it's portable to all devices that are
powerful enough to warrant actually doing GPU computing in the first place.

Finally, I don't support Intel integrated crap.  They have dodgy
implementations of graphics APIs at *best*.  In my experience, brand new
chipsets don't even have support for OpenGL features that were core
functionality a decade ago.  Lastly on hardware: AMD's GPUs have incorrect
GLSL compilers, and NVIDIA's aren't strict enough, though both have been
improving over time.

Ian