It's kind of a gift for those of us who are really late to the 3D CG game and have to play catch-up with all the awesome techniques, algos and shaders that were developed over the last 8-or-so years but who have been working on the web all these years... for once, us old dogs can learn old tricks and still be totally cutting edge!
But personally I think this is just the beginning. To get from 1994 quality (Doom) to 2004 levels (as you say) in-the-browser didn't take "us" 10 years but more like 1-3. When WebGL and "desktop GL" will slowly but surely converge over the next 3-8 years, it will be a real game changer. People will rave about popping up completely new kinds of "3D games" casually and instantly "in the browser". It'll be awesome. It's not too late to jump on the bandwagon and finally we're now also at a fairly stable point where it's not too early either. WebGL in Chrome and Firefox is solid these days. Keeps getting better. Opera is committed to it too. It's cross-platform. And IE? There's 'Chrome Frame' for that (or alternatively some obscure plugin called "iewebgl" or some such, although Chrome Frame should be more sensible).
WebGL and desktop GL will slowly converge? Isn't WebGL already basically just a JS API for OpenGL? Doesn't that make them already relatively converged?
WebGL is a JS binding for OpenGL ES 2, the same version of OpenGL that is used on smartphones. It is not as flexible as OpenGL proper ("desktop GL"), which has more features. OpenGL ES 3 will soon be bringing many of desktop GL's most important extra features to smartphones and the next version of WebGL, and it's not unthinkable that OpenGL ES could eventually take over as the main OpenGL API.
Exactly. Though I think the ES version will probably always lag behind due to Smartphones/Tablets being by necessity less powerful than Desktops/Laptops -- I'm secretly hoping there will eventually be a WebGL that (1) like today guarantees the ES feature set but (2) lets you query and "switch on" full-fledged desktop OpenGL capabilities just like WebGL extensions -- so that we can utilize more/all of the GPU if the GPU happens to be not on a Smartphone/Tablet but on a high-end desktop/laptop. Right now I think this is against Khronos design philosophy behind WebGL -- but eventually one of the implementors (Mozilla or WebKit) may have a strong need for this and add it. Here's hoping.
But personally I think this is just the beginning. To get from 1994 quality (Doom) to 2004 levels (as you say) in-the-browser didn't take "us" 10 years but more like 1-3. When WebGL and "desktop GL" will slowly but surely converge over the next 3-8 years, it will be a real game changer. People will rave about popping up completely new kinds of "3D games" casually and instantly "in the browser". It'll be awesome. It's not too late to jump on the bandwagon and finally we're now also at a fairly stable point where it's not too early either. WebGL in Chrome and Firefox is solid these days. Keeps getting better. Opera is committed to it too. It's cross-platform. And IE? There's 'Chrome Frame' for that (or alternatively some obscure plugin called "iewebgl" or some such, although Chrome Frame should be more sensible).