The software industry is currently experiencing a paradigm shift towards web-based software. In recent years, the Web has become the preeminent deployment environment for new software systems and end-user applications. In the near future, the vast majority of end-user software will be written for the Web, rather than conventional target platforms, such as specific types of computers, operating systems, CPU architectures, or devices. For the average user, the web browser will serve as the primary environment for most computer-related activities, effectively shifting conventional operating systems from the central role they used to have.
The standardization of the web browser has progressed relatively slowly in recent years. In addition, there is a considerable problem of "alphabet soup" in this area, and it is often difficult to separate the really important rules from all the noise surrounding the software industry.
WebGL is a multiplatform web standard for hardware accelerated 3D graphics developed by Mozilla, Khronos Group and a consortium of additional companies like Apple, Google and Opera. High performance 3D graphics directly in the web browser. The main feature that WebGL brings to the Web is the ability to display 3D graphics directly in the web browser without any add-on components or browser extensions. WebGL content runs on the HTML5 canvas element, and WebGL data can be accessed programmatically through the interfaces of the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web browser. A complete JavaScript API is provided to open OpenGL programming capabilities to JavaScript programmers.
Seen from a distance, the most dramatic impact of WebGL is that it will effectively eliminate the "last strong bastion" of conventional binary applications. Although most end-user software has already begun to migrate to the Web, it has so far been very difficult to convince developers and hardcore gamers to take web-based software seriously. This is in part due to the fact that proper development APIs were not available, and partly because until recently the speed of execution of web-based software was completely inadequate for CPU hungry game applications. However, with the recent introduction of high-performance JavaScript engines such as Google V8, Apple's SquirrelFish Extreme and Microsoft's Chakra, the situation has changed drastically. Given the other benefits of web-based software - including portability, instant worldwide deployment, and "zero installation" upgrades - it is clear that WebGL will make hardcore game developers seriously consider migrating their applications to the Web.