Apple has been granted patent on some features of opencl - http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/07/apple-wins-patents-relating-to-opencl-unreleased...
We have to just speculate how Apple is going to use this patent. But the picture looks scary when you read this article - http://www.decryptedtech.com/editorials/with-their-patent-on-opencl-will-apple-be-the-next-rambus
Some questions that ponder:
1. Why did Apple encourage for an open-standard, involve everyone in it, make them work on it and finally get patent on some of the features??
2. Can the terms Open* & patent coexist?
3. Now that the patent has been granted, people will be reluctant to choose OpenCL fearing legal obligations. Was that the intent of the OPEN standard??
4. How does the patent affect already existing or upcoming opencl product. Do we have to worry about Apple lawyers or bother with licensing?!
5. The original concept of blocking and launching threads on a gpu/device came up with Nvidia Cuda much before 2008 when Apple applied for patent
6. Would Apple be able/intends to curb any emergent new GPGPU platform?
