1. Are ARB meetings open to observers?

The ARB meeting will be open to observers, but we want to keep the
meeting small. Currently, up to five non-voting representatives
who inform the ARB secretary in advance, can observe and participate in
the ARB meeting. At any time, the ARB reserves the right to change
the number of observers.

2. So if I am not a member of the ARB, am I shut out of
the decision making process?

There are many methods by which you can influence the evolution of
OpenGL.

1) Contribute to the comp.graphics.opengl news group. Most members of
the ARB read the news group religiously.
2) Contact any member of the ARB and convince that member that your
proposal is worth their advocacy. Any ARB member may present a
proposal, and all ARB members have equal say.
3) Come to OpenGL ARB and speak directly to ARB.

3. How do additional members join the OpenGL ARB?

The intention is that additional members may be added on a
permanent basis or for a one-year term. The one-year term members
would be voting members, added on a rotating basis, so that
different viewpoints (such as ISV's) could be incorporated into new
releases. Under the by-laws, SGI formally nominates new members.

4. How does the OpenGL ARB operate logistically?
When does the ARB have meetings?

ARB meetings are held about once a quarter. The meetings rotate
among sites hosted by the ARB members. To learn the date and place of
the next OpenGL ARB meeting, watch the news group comp.graphics.opengl
for posting announcing the next "OpenGL ARB meeting"

5. What is the philosophy behind the structure of the ARB?

The ARB is intended to be able to respond quickly and flexibly to
evolutionary changes in computer graphics technology. The ARB is
currently "lean and mean" to encourage speedy communication and
decision-making. Its members are highly motivated in ensuring the
success of OpenGL.

6. Who are the current ARB members?

In alphabetical order: Digital Equipment, Evans & Sutherland,
IBM, Intel, Intergraph, Microsoft, and Silicon Graphics.

7. How is the OpenGL governed? Who decides what changes can be
made?

OpenGL is controlled by an independent board, the Architecture
Review Board (ARB). Each member of the ARB has one vote. The
permanent members of the ARB are Digital Equipment, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, and Silicon Graphics. Additional members will be added
over time. The ARB governs the future of OpenGL, proposing and
approving changes to the specification, new releases, and conformance
testing.

8. How does a university or research institution
acquire access to OpenGL source code?

There is a university/research institution licensing program. A
university license entitles the institution to generate binaries and
copy them anywhere, so long as nothing leaves the institution. The
OpenGL source and derived binaries can only be used for non-commercial
purposes on-campus.

A university license costs $500 US. This license provides source
code for a sample implementation of OpenGL. This source code is
best designed for porting onto a system which supports the X
Window System. You can drop this into the X Consortium's X11
server source tree and build a server with the OpenGL extension.
To do this properly, you should have the MIT source for an X
Server and some experience modifying it.

Note that this gets you a software renderer only. If your
machine includes a graphics accelerator, the sample
implementation is not designed to take any advantage of it.

9. What is Mesa 3D and where can I get it?

The "Mesa 3-D graphics library" (or just Mesa) is a free
implementation of the OpenGL API. It has been compiled and
tested on most major Unix/X systems. All you should need is an
ANSI C compiler and X.

10. What is Silicon Graphics policy on "free"
implementations of APIs which resemble the OpenGL API?

Silicon Graphics, as licensor of the OpenGL(R) trademark, does not
permit non-licensed use of the OpenGL trademark, nor does it permit
non-licensed use of the OpenGL conformance tests. Silicon Graphics
provides a source code sample implementation of OpenGL, but only to
companies and organizations which agree to the terms and conditions of
an OpenGL license.

Silicon Graphics does give permission to others to create and distribute
their own implementations of the OpenGL API, provided they do not
state nor imply they have the right to use the OpenGL(R) trademark to
name their product, nor make claims to conformance based upon the ARB
controlled OpenGL conformance tests. Silicon Graphics agrees to allow
others to copy the OpenGL header files, as much as is necessary, for
the creation of other implementations.

Silicon Graphics is in no way associated nor endorsing these
other graphics libraries. Silicon Graphics does not make any
claims or guarantees as to the quality, performance, nor
completeness of an unlicensed library.

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