The End Of DirectX As We Know It

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The End Of DirectX As We Know It

Posted by Hemos on Monday September 6, 2004 @01:46AM from the and-i-feel-fine dept.

socram writes "Speaking with ATI and NVIDIA at ECTS allowed us to confirm that after DX9.0, DirectX Graphics is no more. In name only. Microsoft's next set of core presentation and 3D APIs are now under the umbrella of Windows Graphics Foundation and Avalon. Microsoft will still rely on DirectX in name for the rest of the core components, but the graphics API is now under a new name. Look out for WGF 1.0 compatibility on the back of that next generation graphics card's box. Some WGF 1.0 Info!" Update: 09/06 22:27 GMT by T : David Ross of hexus.net points out that this text comes straight from hexus, and should have been credited as such.

19 of 285 comments (clear)

hmm...might this be the point of time... by scheuri · 2004-09-06 01:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

...where developers have a glance at the new OpenGL?

such changes are perfect to look around instead of hurrying to the next "standard"-MS-stuff....with some luck game devs might see, that OpenGL is neither dead nor old-fashioned!

well, there is hope...even if it is just a little!
1. Re:hmm...might this be the point of time... by Ford+Prefect · 2004-09-06 02:01 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I think there are plenty of titles that use opengl
  
  Doom 3's probably the biggest - and even if you hate the game, its very existence means that graphics card manufacturers can't even think about dropping OpenGL support, at least not without alienating a good number of potential purchasers.
  
  Thanks, John Carmack, for keeping OpenGL alive!
  
  --
  Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
2. Re:hmm...might this be the point of time... by ergo98 · 2004-09-06 02:52 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  On a different note, the really amazing thing about Avalon, and you gotta commend Moft for this, is that they're actually moving the graphics driver to User-mode.
  
  Do you have a source for this? My impression of Avalon is that it's a library and version of Explorer.exe that sits on top of DirectX - of course the video card driver would still be ring 0, and the GDI+++ library (the new Avalon graphics library) would be user mode, just as GDI or GDI+ are today. Avalon represents a new interface application and set of tools for third party applications to use, but it isn't a tremendous plumbing change.
  
  Funny thing about Microsoft software - invariably it hits the market as is dramatically less of a schism than people imagined it to be.
3. Re:hmm...might this be the point of time... by sh0dan · 2004-09-06 03:08 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Thanks, John Carmack, for keeping OpenGL alive!
  
  And he almost decided to kill it off. According to Carmack, the "godawful interface" for OpenGL pBuffers/Render to Texture, made him be "the closest ever to switching over to D3D".
  
  If you are interested in listening to an hour of video-graphics supergeeky stuff, download the one hour video of his keynote from Quakecon 2004.
  It contains an hour of tech-talk from John C. about the doom3 engine, and what he's working on now.
4. Re:hmm...might this be the point of time... by k98sven · 2004-09-06 05:56 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The only people who would be affected is OpenGL elitists
  
  No, the only people who would be affected would be everyone who wants to play Doom 3 on their video card. That's a significant number of people.
  
  Remember that Microsoft created PC gaming as we know it.
  
  What the heck are you smoking? Microsoft was a pioneer in writing flight sims. But that's about it. You must be too young to remember what PC gaming was like before Microsoft ruled the universe.
  
  There is nothing wrong with DirectX, except that such a brilliant idea came out of Microsoft.
  
  There are plenty of things wrong with DirectX. One is that it is a proprietary standard created by MS to stop OpenGL. And unexpectedly, DirectX is locked-in to the Windows platform, unlike OpenGL.
  
  It is not a 'brilliant idea' by any stretch of the imagination. It's was a mind-numbingly obvious idea. When DirectX was developed, essentially all PC apps had moved off DOS to Windows, except games. Obviously, Microsoft needed to get game developers to start using Windows. DirectX was an obvious solution. But they could, had they been less 'evil', just as well integrated OpenGL support into Windows instead.
  
  Which I suspect is the real reason that certain people are as pro-OpenGL as they are. It's just more anti-Microsoft sentiment.
  
  No, it's because OpenGL is a non-proprietary, cross-platform standard. DirectX is a proprietary API locked to the Windows platform.
  
  That said, I'll concede that DirectX is better than OpenGL. It must be better than OpenGL to ensure its survival, because no developer wants to lock himself to a single vendor and platform if there is an equally good option.
WTF 1.0 by flux · 2004-09-06 01:51 · Score: 5, Funny

I think the name has a nice ring to it.
I'm sorry. by porkchop_d_clown · 2004-09-06 01:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Did you really say I should look for WTF compatibility?

Hrm. I can hear the slogan now....

If it doesn't make you say "WTF" it isn't from Microsoft!

--
Clear, Dark Skies
I don't think so by Quasar1999 · 2004-09-06 01:56 · Score: 5, Informative

This is a boat load of hogwash. DirectX is here to stay. DirectX is the damned core, Avalon, or whatever the heck they end up calling it is simply a layer on top of DX. But don't take my word for it, google it. There is enough info out there, that anyone that knows how to program for DirectX will immediately realise that it is being modified with the new UI in mind. It's being done to help it hook into DirectX, and if you examine the DX API closely (especially the latest SDK release), you'll notice a trend to add APIs that allow features that are required for a fully integrated UI. And at the end of the day, game developers will still be using the DX api.

--

---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Re:DirectX by FullMetalAlchemist · 2004-09-06 02:00 · Score: 5, Informative

No, it's the gamedevelopers that does that for you by checking for if your card supports the features it needs to be playable.
It's not MicroSoft's fault, by any extension, it is however silly that you are not allowed to check if it is playable according to _your_ standard; and it's the gamedevelopers you should blame.
I guess it's easy to point at something big, like MS if you want someone to blame, people tend to do that.
Re:Makes perfect sense. by Seoulstriker · 2004-09-06 02:05 · Score: 5, Insightful

What are you talking about? OS X has native support for OpenGL capability. It just so happens that some desktop graphics functions such as windows are offloaded to the GPU. OpenGL is the equivalent of DirectX. In fact, now that the ARB finally made a decision on shading languages, OpenGL's OGSL is superior to what Microsoft has to offer.

It's just that Microsoft is finally catching up with Apple in [b]using[/b] GPU functions to control more than just games.

--
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
Misleading title: DirectX is more than Direct3D by jrest · 2004-09-06 02:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

What about the parts of DirectX that are not about 3D? The article is only about the Direct3D part of DirectX.
I'm using DirectShow a lot myself actually. Are changes expected there too?

--
(Score:5, Not Funny)
Re:DirectX by Tim+C · 2004-09-06 02:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

On most games today it says "runs on either Nvidia card xxx or ATI card yyy".

Well, on most of the requirements I've seen recently, it'll list something like "Graphics card: 100% DirectX 8 compatible, 64MB RAM". Just because in today's hardware market that translates to "a recent card from NVidia or ATI" doesn't make that MS's fault.

So my non-nvidia card won't help me even though DirectX 9.0c claims to be running fine

Chances are, DX 9 *is* running fine, but your card lacks support for certain features used by the game. Now, the game devs could fall back to software, or even just disable those features; not doing so is not the fault of DX or MS.

--
It's official. Most of you are morons.
mixed feelings by andr0meda · 2004-09-06 02:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

It's not a good idea to replace an API when that API is one of the major libraries people use to display fast graphics.

It is however a good idea to force people to use a new standard when the old one has limitations that start to pop up. Sometimes it's necessary to cut the cables and start over.

Personally I think Dx9 is still all valid and good, it has no issues concerning shader support or other. I would not have replaced this API at this point, because I would consider the WGF as a surplus, something extra alongside DX. I guess doubling up the internal library is too cumbersome for the ones writing the video card drivers, which is why they replaced everything at once.

--
With great power comes great electricity bills.
MS memo by corpsiclex · 2004-09-06 02:18 · Score: 5, Funny

I propose the following changes, which will result in clarity and increased initial understanding of the product:

Microsoft Windowbird
Bitthunder Mapping Format
Proxyfox
Microsoft WordBird

For every day use, the following abbreviations should be adopted to referring to the product as simple as possible:
MWB
BMF
PFX
MWD
Any more suggestions?

--

eBayDig 1s a typo saerch engien
Re:please them? are you sure? by Tim+C · 2004-09-06 02:42 · Score: 5, Informative

Two things:

1) that page, judging by the date at the bottom, is 7 years old - that's plenty of time for the situation to have completely changes
2) judging from the logo on it and the URL, the guy is particularly anti-MS; you might want to cite a source with a little more objectivity

--
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Or by Whatsmynickname · 2004-09-06 02:45 · Score: 5, Funny

wait for DirectX 20

DirectXXX
Re:WGF? by WWWWolf · 2004-09-06 02:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Apache

A big honkin' helicopter.

Firefox

Propels Fox upward (or whevever you tilt the stick) while frying everyone nearby on the ground.

Mono

It only plays from the other speaker, or if you're lucky, same stuff from two speakers. So, it's probably ancient.

BitTorrent

Hey, I know this one! It moves tons and tons of bits from one place to another! Am I right?! What did I win? Tell me!

Putty

Turns perfectly working Linux server into a blob of clay, probably. Remotely. From a Windows desktop.

(and the fucking stupidest ever) Script-Fu

"-Fu" probably refers to martial arts, so... um... "Script-Fu's Name that could be understood is not the true Script-Fu's Name." Or something.
Re:Reader in put required ... by simonecaldana · 2004-09-06 03:37 · Score: 5, Funny

Won't Go Fast
Re:Windows Girl Friend by pandrijeczko · 2004-09-06 04:01 · Score: 5, Funny

I quite fancy the idea of Windows Girl Friend, especially if she is modelled on "Clippy":
Would you like me to:
- Make your dinner?
- Massage your feet?
- Get you a beer from the fridge?

--
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.