Editing Silicon Graphics (section)

===IRIS GL and OpenGL===
Until the second generation Onyx [[RealityEngine|Reality Engine]] machines, SGI offered access to its high performance 3D graphics subsystems through a proprietary [[Application programming interface|API]] known as ''IRIS Graphics Library'' ([[IRIS GL]]). As more features were added over the years, IRIS GL became harder to maintain and more cumbersome to use. In 1992, SGI decided to clean up and reform IRIS GL and made the bold move of allowing the resulting [[OpenGL]] API to be cheaply licensed by SGI's competitors, and set up an industry-wide consortium to maintain the OpenGL standard (the OpenGL Architecture Review Board).<ref name=seddon>{{cite book|title=OpenGL Game Development|page=43|chapter=History of OpenGL|author=Seddon, Chris|publisher=Wordware|year=2005|isbn=1-55622-989-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahb5bqeLROAC&q=IRIS+GL&pg=PA43}}</ref><ref name=kilgard>{{cite web|author=Kilgard, Mark|url=https://www.slideshare.net/Mark_Kilgard/sigraph-asia-2008-modern-opengl-presentation/13-13OpenGLs_PrehistoryIRIS_GL_1Window_system|title=OpenGL Prehistory: IRIS GL (slide from SIGGRAPH talk)|website=www.slideshare.net|year=2008}}</ref><ref name=sgiopengl>{{cite web|url=http://www.sgi.com/products/software/opengl/overview.html|title=SGI – OpenGL Overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041031094901/http://www.sgi.com/products/software/opengl/overview.html|archive-date=October 31, 2004|access-date=August 20, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="g926">{{cite web|last1=Peddie|first1=Jon|title=Who's the Fairest of Them All?|url=http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2012/Volume-35-Issue-4-June-July-2012/Who-s-the-Fairest-of-Them-All-.aspx|publisher=Computer Graphics World|access-date=August 20, 2024|date=July 2012}}</ref><ref name=openglkhronos>{{Cite web|date=July 31, 2006|title=OpenGL ARB to Pass Control of OpenGL Specification to Khronos Group|url=https://www.khronos.org/news/press/opengl_arb_to_pass_control_of_opengl_specification_to_khronos_group|access-date=August 20, 2024|website=The Khronos Group|language=en}}</ref>

This meant that for the first time, fast, efficient, cross-platform graphics programs could be written.<ref name=seddon/><ref name=kilgard/><ref name=sgiopengl/><ref name="g926"/><ref name=openglkhronos/> For over 20 years – until the introduction of the [[Vulkan|Vulkan API]]<ref name=vulkan1.0>{{cite web
  | url       = https://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-releases-vulkan-1-0-specification
| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211020/https://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-releases-vulkan-1-0-specification
| archive-date=2021-10-20  | title     = Khronos Releases Vulkan 1.0 Specification
  | date      = February 16, 2016
  | website   = Khronos.org
  | publisher = Khronos Group Press Release}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=December 2, 2015|title=Vulkan|url=https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211020/https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan| archive-date=2021-10-20|access-date=2024-09-01|website=NVIDIA Developer|language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vulkan®|url=https://gpuopen.com/vulkan/| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211020/https://gpuopen.com/vulkan/| archive-date=2021-10-20|access-date=2024-09-01|website=GPUOpen|language=en-GB}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Developing 3D Graphics with Vulkan on Mobile|url=https://developer.qualcomm.com/blog/developing-3d-graphics-vulkan-mobile| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211020/https://developer.qualcomm.com/blog/developing-3d-graphics-vulkan-mobile| archive-date=2021-10-20|access-date=2024-09-01|website=Qualcomm Developer Network|language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref> –  OpenGL remained the only real-time 3D graphics standard to be portable across a variety of operating systems.<ref name=seddon/><ref name=kilgard/><ref name=sgiopengl/><ref name="g926"/><ref name=openglkhronos/>