The VRML Consortium has anounced that VRML has been approved as an International Standard by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The Consortium hopes that the adoption will take the language for creating virtual three dimensional worlds into the mainstream by enabling it to be referenced as the 3D component in other ISO/IEC standards. The VRML 97 specification was published in December as result of collaboration with the Consortium. The VRML 97 International Standard was developed by the Joint Technical Committee 1 of the ISO and IEC in partnership with the VRML Consortium. The VRML language has been mocked in the past because outside of a few scattered web pages and a handful of chat sites, it has been miles from the mainstream. But the formal adoption coupled with mounting industry support indicate that it should become more abundant. Microsoft Corp last year announced a licensing deal with InterVista Software Inc in which it is incorporating Intervista’s WorldView VRML 2.0 viewer into Internet Explorer 4.0. While in April, multimedia acceleration hardware company, S3 Inc, and InterVista announced an alliance with Black Sun Interactive, provider of open standards-based products for building on-line communities, to integrate Black Sun Community technology into the S3dWorldview VRML 2.0 Plug-in. In addition, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell, Compaq have moved to offer 3D boards as standard and Intel Corp is developing its Auburn three dimensional processor. The formal move for VRML to become an International Standard began in June 1996 with the Consortium’s VRML 2.0 draft specification.
