The OpenGL software, a standard 2D and 3D graphics accelerator software will now be released as free. SGI, maker of the software indeed embraced the open source goodwill. The new license for the software is similar to the X11 license that signifies a non-copyleft license.

Analysts and software enthusiasts groups like Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the Khronos Group applauded the move by the software company.

The new authorization on the software will further push and advance Linux integrated software distribution. It will also have an impact on a lot of graphic software libraries that was released from 1999 onwards.

The affected software includes SGI’s OpenGL Sample Implementation, GLX API (application programming interface) and GLX extensions such as MESA and others.

GLX is short for OpenGL Extension to the X Window System and it connects the the X Window System to OpenGL. OpenGL is a graphics acceleration API and its main function is to accelerate graphic rendering in video chipsets without hogging huge system resource. Hog

SGI is among the many groups that is starting to embrace open source licensing. The Sun earlier released Java under the GPL agreement. .

Sun and SGI (formerly Silicon Graphics) used to compete for the high-end graphic workstations market worldwide.

Source: LinuxDevices