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The Future of Windows Gaming
GameDaily.biz has up an interview celebrating the tenth anniversary of DirectX. Their talk with Chris Donahue covers how DirectX has evolved, where the industry is going, and some discussion of Microsoft's XNA initiative. From the article: "With XNA, which incorporates both DirectX and the Xbox/Xbox 360 Development Kits, we're making the tools to make it easier to make games for Microsoft's gaming platforms. We're looking to the game development community to surprise gamers with new ideas of what they can do with these tools--and of course, we're helping developers build games that can take advantage of the huge power of the next generation of hardware, both Xbox 360 and Longhorn."
[...] and of course, we're helping developers build games that can take advantage of the huge power of the next generation of hardware, both Xbox 360 and Longhorn
Longhorn isn't next generation hardware. Longhorn will probably require next generation hardware to run well. Quote from I, Cringely, "For Intel to keep growing, people have to replace their PCs more often and Microsoft's bloatware strategy just isn't making that happen, especially if they keep delaying Longhorn."
You may not agree with Cringely's conspiracy theories but it's been fairly obvious that the Windows/Intel duopoly has long been a mechanism to drive unnecessary computer upgrades under the guise of "innovation". Looks like Chris Donahue agrees that we'll be seeing more of the same.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
And for that you use SDL
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
"If people had put even half the same effort into using real standards that work on multiple platforms we might be seeing much more interesting and innovative games now."
While I, too, would like to see OpenGL/SDL utilized for compatibility's sake, I fail to see how it would help developers create much more interesting and innovative games.