In many ways, this was a long time coming, and I'm sorry to hear it, but they have recently made some changes to Minecraft that require you to have hardware that is less than a couple years old.
Long story short (EVEN if you have the latest drivers), you need video hardware that supports OpenGL 1.2 to run the game these days. If you have a desktop you may be able to upgrade (although, depending on your motherboard, probably not) and if you have a laptop, you can't upgrade your video. As always, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Unfortunately, people griped for features, colored glass, etc, they have a history of giving in, and they made the decision to shut people out who have older video hardware, etc. For these features, I'm not crazy about it, but it is what it is. The game is several years old and still going strong, and they are trying to make things easier on themselves so… I know what they're up against, so I'm on the fence, but still, it does kinda suck.
At face value, I understand it may be hard to believe, but the game IS demanding on your video hardware, and they ARE up against a rock and a hard place. Still. Sucks tho, that they're fragmenting their audience, I feel for ya, believe me
