Editing Open Inventor (section)

==Mid 1990s==
At some point in the mid-1990s it was realized that there was no good reason that the two systems could not be combined, resulting in a single high-level API with both performance and programmability. SGI started work on yet another project aimed at merging the two, eventually culminating in [[Cosmo 3D]]. However Cosmo had a number of practical problems that could have been avoided with better design.

Eventually all of these ideas would come together to create the [[OpenGL plus plus|OpenGL++]] effort, along with [[Intel]], [[IBM]] and [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]]. Essentially a cleaned up and more “open” version of Cosmo 3D, work on Cosmo ended and SGI turned to OpenGL++ full-time. The OpenGL++ effort would drag on and eventually be killed, and SGI then tried again with [[Microsoft]] with the similar [[Fahrenheit graphics API|Fahrenheit]] project, which also died. In 1994 SGI licensed Open Inventor to two third-party developers, [[Template Graphics Software (TGS)]] and Portable Graphics; in 1996 TGS bought Portable Graphics, making them the sole licensee.