> not only you need the right browser, you also need the right video card and video drivers, is worse than the "best viewed with" nightmare of the 90's.
First, Chrome will fall back to a software emulation that actually works very well. So even if your video driver is blacklisted, you can still see the content.
Second, I'm not sure Carmack has made an effort to really look at the differences between WebGL and OpenGL. Features are limited and the browsers are required to parse and verify input, so that only correct code is sent to the graphics drivers.
(edit:) Let me add some more information here: Array bounds are checked; Array indexes must be constant expressions ; and, most importantly, while-loops are forbidden. If you've taken a course in theoretical CS, you may recall the difference between for and while loops and why applications using only the former can be verified (if there is not recursion - OpenGL shaders also don't support that anyway).
Third, access to WebGL could be easily limited in the future: For example allow access by default for browser extensions and require user confirmation for the rest of the web. Should be fine for games.
First, Chrome will fall back to a software emulation that actually works very well. So even if your video driver is blacklisted, you can still see the content.
Second, I'm not sure Carmack has made an effort to really look at the differences between WebGL and OpenGL. Features are limited and the browsers are required to parse and verify input, so that only correct code is sent to the graphics drivers.
(edit:) Let me add some more information here: Array bounds are checked; Array indexes must be constant expressions ; and, most importantly, while-loops are forbidden. If you've taken a course in theoretical CS, you may recall the difference between for and while loops and why applications using only the former can be verified (if there is not recursion - OpenGL shaders also don't support that anyway).
Third, access to WebGL could be easily limited in the future: For example allow access by default for browser extensions and require user confirmation for the rest of the web. Should be fine for games.