[Interest] Is it OK to use ANGLE on Windows XP-SP3?

[Steve Schilz]

We have a desktop C++ application that uses the scenegraph, but we do not use Qt Quick, or any specific OpenGL functionality on Windows.
We have a requirement to run on Windows XP SP3.  (for probably one more year, I know...)

I am confused about the recommendations for Angle Vs OpenGL on Windows-XP.

THE 'OFFICIAL' RECOMMENDATION
The recommendations page in the wiki (http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt-5-on-Windows-ANGLE-and-OpenGL) states that you should use "desktop opengl"  if you need to run on XP.
The exact text, which has been there for quite a long time (maybe two years?) is:

>> "Your application needs to run on Windows XP. Although it is tempting to use ANGLE as a replacement 
>> for missing graphics drivers   on this platform, it does not fully work and may lead to crashes, 
>> for example, when the security dialog is opened."    (n.b.  'the security dialog' means 'ctrl-alt-delete')

This cryptic statement lead me to  https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTBUG-29223 QtQuick 2.0 view crash after Windows security dialog (Ctrl+Alt+Del)
(we do not use QtQuick, and the related issues all seem to be fixed, leaving this the only ANGLE bug 
ARGUMENTS FOR USING ANGLE ON XP:
I.  The obvious advantage of indepence from end-users needing up-to-date drivers.
II. if you look at the ANGLE project homepage (https://code.google.com/p/angleproject/), it states that

>> "ANGLE is used as the default WebGL backend for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on Windows platforms. 
>> Chrome uses ANGLE for all graphics rendering on Windows, including the accelerated Canvas2D implementation and 
>> the Native Client sandbox environment."
 
This statement leads me to believe that ANGLE is well supported on XP. 

III.  This qt-develop list post suggests that  Angle may provide better Performance? http://lists.qt-project.org/pipermail/development/2013-May/011045.html
IV. Qt Multimedia (video playback) works better on angle (from the official recommendation page)
V  Angle is the default build on windows,

SO MY QUESTION:
Is it time to reconsider this recommendation?  Should the recommendation be that ANGLE is useful on Windows XP?



Steve Schilz
Software Engineer
Pasco Scientific