Comment by jsheard
The bizarre thing is that Apple did used to cooperate with Khronos, they were involved with OpenGL and even donated the initial version of the OpenCL spec to them. Something dramatic happened behind the scenes at some point.
The bizarre thing is that Apple did used to cooperate with Khronos, they were involved with OpenGL and even donated the initial version of the OpenCL spec to them. Something dramatic happened behind the scenes at some point.
I can imagine a scenario: Apple donates openCL, then later suggests some changes for the next version. Khronos delays or pushes back and now openCL is stuck from Apple's perspective and they can't do anything about it.
I don't know why anyone would try to care when Apple announced they were pivoting away from OpenCL half a decade ago. The value prop of a cross-platform GPGPU API died the moment that Apple gave up, and OpenGL's treatment reflects what happens once Apple abandons an open standard.
My absurd pet theory is that this was related to their 2017-2020 dispute with Imagination. Apple started (allegedly) violating Imagination's IP in 2017. They were, at the very least, threatened with a lawsuit, and the threats were compelling enough that they've been paying up since 2020. It could be Apple pulled out of the Khronos IP pool to prepare a lawsuit, or to have better chances of dodging one.