Microsoft reportedly bringing WebGL support to Internet Explorer 11

A leaked copy of Windows Blue suggests Microsoft may finally be ready to embrace WebGL in its Internet Explorer browser. To this point — and even with the impressive (and creepy) tech demos we’ve seen that showcase the web API — the company has refrained from enabling WebGL in IE. In June 2011, Microsoft justified its stance by calling out a number of security concerns related to WebGL, which allows a browser to run graphically intensive applications without installing extra plugins. “Browser support for WebGL directly exposes hardware functionality to the web in a way that we consider to be overly permissive,” wrote the company’s Security Research & Defense team. “We believe that WebGL will likely become an ongoing source of hard-to-fix vulnerabilities.”

Apparently Microsoft is now looking at things a bit differently. Last week, web developer Francois Remy did a bit of digging in the early build of Windows Blue and found several references to WebGL — a sign support could finally be en route. But Rafael Rivera explored things a bit further and discovered that WebGL can be enabled right now for anyone running the leaked software. It’s still very much a work in progress according to Rivera, but by the time Internet Explorer 11 properly ships to consumers, Microsoft’s browser should be standing toe-to-toe with Chrome.