> As for corporate efforts, corporations tend to
> keep things to themselves because they think
> exclusivity gives them an edge. It is usually
> unintended that they let something like Unix slip
> out and get used and improved by a larger
> community. Some changes are underway, and a good
> sign is that SGI is willing to let the Inventor
> format be used as a starting point. But just
> because corporate efforts are underway does not
> guarantee it will get done. Corporations are
> fickle at times.
>
While I love Inventor (Hi Gavin! Hi Rikk!),
it is of course in SGI's best interest to push inventor
for VRML. SGI wants Inventor to be the standard interchange
format for 3D. Something it is well suited for.
If one corporation was working on this,
it might mean that it wouldn't happen, but there are MANY
working on these ideas. One of them will get to market.
Actually the first one will be out sometime very soon: Chip
Morningstar and Randy Farmer's new version of Habitat.
Kevin