Google, Chrome, WebGL, ANGLE

Google has launched a new project for Chrome that will let the browser run a wider range of 3D graphics content without downloading additional drivers. The open-source project, called ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine), seeks to let Chromium run WebGL content on Windows computers, wrote product manager Henry Bridge on the Chromium blog.

WebGL is still-developing cross-platform Web standard for accessing low-level 3D graphics hardware based on the OpenGL ES 2.0 API (application programming interface) that can be implemented directly in a browser without a plugin. But while WebGL is implemented in many browsers, it is dependent on a set of OpenGL drivers. ... Many Windows machines can't render WebGL content because the OpenGL drivers aren't installed, ...

"ANGLE will allow Windows users to run WebGL content without having to find and install new drivers for their system," Bridge wrote. ... ANGLE will be released under a BSD license, and the project is on Google's Code Web site.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/191919/chrome_graphics_drivers.html