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Interview With Initiator of DirectX

Posted by Zonk on from the fighting-the-man dept.

Miguel de Icaza writes "There's a great interview from Shacknews with Alex St. John, one of the earlier DirectX / gaming guys. He talks about almost losing his job going against Bill Gates, and talks a bit about the MS development & political process. 'You know why the X on the Xbox is a glowing green X? The original codename for Direct X was the Manhattan Project, because strategically it was an effort to displace Japanese game consoles with PCs and ultimately the Xbox. We called it the Manhattan Project because that was the codename for the program developing the nuclear bomb. We had a glowing radiation logo for the prototype for Direct X, and of course as soon as that got out and the press covered it, it caused a scandal.'"

44 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. WildTangent by zehnra · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He's also the father of WildTangent...ugh.

    1. Re:WildTangent by kinglink · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Something they tend to avoid mentioning. The interview is interesting but it's a first hand account. If I was telling my story to a reporter I'd always wear a cape and fight supervillians in my off time, wait, in fact I already do that!

      I'm glad he's calling vista's feature set stupid, but the thing is it's too fucking late, the system shipped Microsoft's not going to pull these features out because it's a problem and we're going to be stuck with them for 4-5 years.

      And yeah he ran wildtangent a gaming company which is practically malware, I wonder if his hatred of Vista is more based on a more secure install process for the type of files wildtangent used.

    2. Re:WildTangent by RedElf · · Score: 1

      If he's the father of WildTangent, I'd hate to see what that mother looks like.

      --
      You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!
  2. Codenames by ESOB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The original XBox had the codename of Midway. Midway was the battle in the Pacific that essentially guaranteed that Japan could not invade the US. The US sunk all of Japan's main carriers and then started pushing back the Japanese all other fronts. So I guess naming things after the defeat of Japan in WWII is common practice within Microsoft HQ.

    1. Re:Codenames by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I have it on good authority that the codename for the PS3 was Nan-King.

      Them japs sure love rapin the commoners!

    2. Re:Codenames by Kyokugenryu · · Score: 1

      Their intention has been clear for a long time now: take down the Japanese-dominated gaming market and make it their own. Whether you like it or not, they seem to be doing a great job at it right now.

    3. Re:Codenames by Talgrath · · Score: 1

      How so? The X-Box and 360 have only had a handful of hit games, and some of them were done by Japanese publishers (Ninja Gaiden, for example). The PC is still dominated by American and European developers, of course, but that's always been the case; Japanese developers are still dominating in the console gaming industry.

    4. Re:Codenames by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      And fair play to them, I say. It's not like Sony are a small player easily cowed by Microsoft's market dominance.

    5. Re:Codenames by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      Last I checked, actually selling a top performing game was good for a boat load of cash. Selling a game console on the other hand, well, in Microsoft's case at least, is a great way to lose cash.

      Japan - 1
      USA - 0

      No offense to Americans or anything (I'm Canadian personally) but hemorrhaging cash to keep the XBox project alive is probably not scaring many Japanese console workers when you consider how profitable the Nintendo projects and even the PS2 are.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    6. Re:Codenames by OK+PC · · Score: 1

      I am both shocked and awed!

      --
      Did you get that thing I sent ya?
    7. Re:Codenames by tepples · · Score: 1

      The original XBox had the codename of Midway. Midway was ...a video game publisher that purchased Tradewest and Atari Games.
    8. Re:Codenames by LKM · · Score: 1

      Doing a great job? The 360 isn't doing better than the original Xbox (which was hardly able to beat even the Cube), and that's with a whole year of no competition. They cornered the market on people who want to play Halo, but other than that, they are not making any inroads.

      The funny thing is that Sony is fucking it up big time right now, but even so, Microsoft seems unable to capitalize on it. This is quite astonishing, seeing how much money Microsoft has spent on their console business.

      I'm actually not quite sure if you're being ironic, now that I re-read your post. If so, please ignore my post.

  3. And also, I know from personal experience... by EWAdams · · Score: 2, Informative

    ... a very aggressive, pushy, and offensive person who will try to take maximum advantage of his trade partners in his business dealings. A company I was once affiliated with threatened to cancel a contract with Microsoft because of his behavior. Microsoft caved and cleaned up their act. But if the rumors are true, he was only acting in the way his boss Gates taught him to.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  4. Most scathing comments about Vista yet by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    FTFA:

    The biggest foolishness is Vista's security architecture. Any time someone questions Vista's security, Microsoft accuses that person of being anti-security, or is just bummed because they can't do naughty things that they otherwise wanted to do. Vista's security is weird, it's like a house made out of concrete walls but has screen doors. It's an enormously overbuilt security system with huge, gaping holes. It's extremely intrusive, and it gets in the way of the user's experience without actually being secure. It makes it even harder for consumers to download things and play games, without actually gaining any security benefits. It basically fucks up legitimate applications while leaving holes for the bad ones to just climb on through.

    Holy shit, Batman! That's the strongest anti-endorsement of Vista I've yet seen. It's not news, but it's the first time an insider who is really in a position to know what's going on behind the scenes (assuming he still has friends inside Microsoft, which is probably a safe assumption) has said anything this negative.

    This slightly earlier paragraph was almost as good:

    What you see with Microsoft is, without people at Microsoft who realize that the operating system does not add value to gaming, it gets in the way, they think they can add more value by adding in more shit that only gets in the way of making a good game. Unfortunately, Vista does that. Microsoft added more shit that impedes game development. It's certainly possible to make great games in Vista, it's just more of a pain in the ass than it needs to be. I think Vista is a missed opportunity for Microsoft to have done a better job in supporting PC gaming.

    If you still needed any evidence that Microsoft doesn't understand games or security... there it is.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by nuzak · · Score: 1

      > If you still needed any evidence that Microsoft doesn't understand games or security... there it is.

      What makes you think that the DirectX people are the same as the Vista OS people? The former understand games very much (and there's not much to security in games, since even the most connected online games are walled gardens). At any one time, half of Microsoft is actively impeding or undermining the work of the other half.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    2. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      What makes you think that the DirectX people are the same as the Vista OS people?

      If the people who were developing DirectX were the only people with influence over DirectX, then you might have a point. But they aren't, so you don't. I said "Microsoft", not "developers of DirectX at Microsoft" for a reason.

      At any one time, half of Microsoft is actively impeding or undermining the work of the other half.

      Thank Jebus! That's probably the only thing preventing them from dominating the world and releasing Microsoft Final Solution.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by spyrochaete · · Score: 4, Informative

      Alex St. John is a regular columnist for Computer Power User magazine and he is constantly bashing Microsoft. This interview was fascinating in that it revealed where he's coming from, but it doesn't really excuse his demeanour. Take his words with a grain of salt - all he writes about is Microsoft and he never has anything positive to say.

    4. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by n0dna · · Score: 1

      Well, you do have to take St. John with a grain of salt... and I sincerely doubt he has any friends left at Microsoft.

      He is (was?) a regular columnist for CPU magazine, and his articles fall cleanly into 2 categories:

      1) Why doesn't anyone ask me what's wrong with Microsoft? I'll tell you anyway...
      2) Why does everyone hate something as awesome as Wild Tangent, since it's clearly the superior delivery system for $10 games of amazing flash-based quality? It's a vast Antivirus-Wing Conspiracy!

      Then when people ask why he only writes about those two things, he gets all defensive saying it's basically all he knows which makes him an expert... and that must be what people want to hear over and over again. He is the reason I stopped reading CPU. (Well, him and a plummeting interest in micron-level video card schematics.)

    5. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by blahplusplus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Take his words with a grain of salt - all he writes about is Microsoft and he never has anything positive to say."

      True but just by reading what he says you can tell he's smart as a whip. He knew that gaming was one of the primary reasons anyone stuck with windows.

    6. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 1

      The biggest foolishness is the government's security architecture for the air travel industry. Any time someone questions airport or airplane security, the government accuses that person of being anti-security, or is just bummed because they can't do naughty things that they otherwise wanted to do. The government's security is weird, it's like a house made out of concrete walls but has screen doors. It's an enormously overbuilt security system with huge, gaping holes. It's extremely intrusive, and it gets in the way of the traveller's experience without actually being secure. It makes it even harder for travellers to take business trips or vacations, without actually gaining any security benefits. It basically fucks up legitimate travel plans while leaving holes for the bad ones to just climb on through.

      --
      Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
    7. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      What's funny is that his columns a few years ago were all about:

      1. How great Microsoft was
      2. How he was the father of DirectX and how awesome DirectX was.
      3. How Microsoft understood gaming better than Sony did and that the Xbox would rule!

      Back then I considered him nothing more than a Microsoft astroturfer.

    8. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      He's still a columnist at CPU, he's like CPU's John C. Dvorak, the guy everyone loves to hate.

      But as I stated elsewhere, a few years ago his columns were very pro-microsoft. I figured that would come back to bite him sooner or later.

      As for Wild Tangents games, Fate is fun little Diablo clone, It's not worth paying $20 for though, it's a $10 game. I suggested to "The Saint" back in 2005 that he contact SOE, borrow the Snowblind engine and port Fate to the PS2/PS3, since there's a pretty good sized market for Diablo clones on the PS2 and Wild Tangent could probably make some pretty good money that way.

      But at that time Alex was very anti-console, except for the Xbox of course.

    9. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by dintech · · Score: 1

      That's pretty insightful. Summed up by saying almost all security can be circumvented eventually with enough presistence. A shame its such a pain in the ass before then.

    10. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I don't understand if you're attempting to invalidate my point by comparing it to another system, or validate it. But what you say is the truth about the air travel industry - there is no security there. They don't even really do their jobs. Last flight out to Vegas I accidentally took a lighter with me through security. I actually had it in my pocket and threw it in the little bowl that goes through the scanner, but it was under my keys and wallet. I picked it up out of the bowl on the other side, and took it on the plane with me. And metal detectors still won't pick up a plastic knife taped to my leg. Or, for that matter, a plastic gun.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How great Microsoft was

      From a certain point of view, they are great. They offer products which do just about everything important, although I agree that they don't necessarily do a great job of any of them (look at it this way though, Microsoft is to Computer Associates as Einstein is to Dubya.) Microsoft is the 800 pound gorilla and that engenders either fear or respect, either of which can be said to confer greatness.

      How he was the father of DirectX and how awesome DirectX was.

      And if we take a look at the history of PC gaming, DirectX is a milestone that will stand for all eternity as the moment when someone pulled their head out of their ass and provided a useful API for game developers on a mainstream operating system.

      Of course, Direct3D's release is a day that will live in eternal infamy, but you can't have everything (and D3D wasn't part of the original versions of DirectX.)

      How Microsoft understood gaming better than Sony did and that the Xbox would rule!

      I don't know about Microsoft understanding gaming better than Sony, but the PS3 is hurtin' for certain. UK sales dropped by something like 68% in the second week. No one expects the launch week fervor to continue forever but Sony's lunch is being rapidly eaten by their competitors.

      PS2 was the clear winner in the last generation, but it doesn't look like PS3 is a credible contender... They REALLY have to pull it out of the trash at this point, and I don't know if they have what it takes. I'm pretty sure they don't. Sony has a long history of fucking up a good thing with just a few elements of stupidity, like Minidisc and then later even NetMD, for example.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by Caffeinate · · Score: 1

      . . . something like 68% . . . More than that I'm afraid - http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/04/03/ps3-sales-go-d own-the-drain-slight-clog/ P.S. Not a Playstation owner, but this is the most neutral/realistic analysis I found.
      --
      Godless heathen.
    13. Re:Most scathing comments about Vista yet by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 1

      Not trying to invalidate your point. Just pointing out how everything you said is equally applicable to security in the air travel industry.

      Bottom line -- good security isn't about bug-free implementation. It's about having a sensible design that actually plugs all possible problems. It's about accurately identifying the holes and then taking the right steps to plug them.

      --
      Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
  5. Re:Nice cigar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know what Freud said about men who smoke cigars, right? They have a subconcious desire to perform fellatio.

    That was just Freud's way of letting people know he had a conscious desire to perform fellatio.

  6. The Microsoft way by mzs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Shack: When did you realize what you were getting yourself into, as you say?

    Alex St John: A month or so in, I still didn't know exactly what my job was until one of the guys who hired me said, "Write a strategy for how you would persuade the publishing industry to move to Windows." I spent a lot of time writing documents saying here's what our strategy should be, here's how we could convince companies to sign on, all that. I came in to do my presentation, and I got about three slides into it before I was interrupted by one of the executives saying, "This is all great stuff, you have a perfect plan. Developers who are reasonable should all support it, but what do you do if none of this works." "What do you mean?" "What if in spite of your best efforts, your best arguments, you best relationships, you can't get them to support them. How do you force the industry to support Microsoft anyway?" "Force them? Well, I don't know." "Come back when you have a plan that answers that question."

    That perplexed me for a long time. I'm thinking, "What the hell does he mean, force them? I can't hold a gun to their head, so how do I put all these companies in a position where, regardless of what they see is in their best interest, they have to adopt your technology?" That experience had a major impact on my thinking. I realized that a major part of my job was to figure out how to use technology control to create economic force, or leverage, such that money and business flowed in Microsoft's direction, and people had to go [to them]. That, ultimately, is when I became a "Microsoft guy," when I got that concept.

    1. Re:The Microsoft way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      For all the talk of heartless corporations name some that have intentionally murdered their employees or customers to maintain their power.

      Ford has beaten employees within an inch of their lives and descided that death related lawsuits were cheaper than a recall.

  7. Re:Nice cigar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Didn't he actually say "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"?

    Okay, it's apocryphal, but who cares who said it? Most psychiatrists agree with the sentiment.

  8. Yeah, but not this time! by FatSean · · Score: 1

    Hahaha...oh the jokes the jokes...

    --
    Blar.
  9. They succeeded at something else by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

    Wasting millions on the two Xbox projects (so far), but mostly, they all but killed Open GL for most game companies.

    1. Re:They succeeded at something else by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

      Actually, I don't think Xbox1 has lost them all that much money, and they intended on losing a ton of money to get their foot in the door.

      Xbox 360, on the other hand, has been a success, by any measure. Except in the Japanese market, it's got respect and market share... and the Japanese market is a special case.

      What Microsoft has done wrong, however, is pull a "Sony-like" attempt to force Vista down our throats with DX10. I'm not terribly happy that Halo 2 will not run without Vista, nor that games like Crysis will lack everything that makes them next-gen shooters when running in DX9. On the other hand, this will just mean I'll play games more on my modeed PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 consoles.

    2. Re:They succeeded at something else by BigBuckHunter · · Score: 1

      they all but killed Open GL for most game companies

      Strange.. Just last night I ran 3Dmark 2000, 2001SE, and 2003. All were rendered in OGL. Pretty soon, 05/6/7 will be working. All in OpenGL. I played some Guild Wars, Eve Online, and other direct3D games. Most of the rendered fine using OpenGL. Here's a Guild Wars OpenGL screenshot I took (using glsl as well for shaders)

      http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=8219

      BBH

    3. Re:They succeeded at something else by chrish · · Score: 1

      I'm not terribly happy that Halo 2 will not run without Vista

      Can't you pick up a used XBox and a copy of Halo 2 (it's been out since 2004, remember) for way less than a copy of Vista, even an upgrade?

      Sure you'll be left without Crysis, but there are things like BioShock that won't have a (possibly artificial) requirement for DX10.
      --
      - chrish
  10. Re:Racism by BenJeremy · · Score: 1

    If I had meta-mod points, I'd mod you down as flamebait or up as funny.

    Most Canadians I know have pretty thick skins, and I hope you are no different. If Sony wants to code-name the PS4 "Pearl Harbor", why not? I'll take it in the spirit it was intended, and not immediately get offended and spaz out enough to "take a stand".

    Now, if the Japanese were planning a "mod-proof" console targeting the Chinese with a code name of "Nanking" - well, that's a little different. Midway, on the other hand, was a decisive MILITARY battle that helped turn the tide in a war that began with a sneak attack. The war was ended with atomic destruction - and while mildly insensitive, I think "wiping out the Japanese Console market share" as analogous to a nuke can be taken in less offensive ways, too. Take offense at DirectX (Radioactive symbol) and stop playing games on your PC if you are that offended, but that was old news by the time the Xbox (Midway) debuted.

    Actually, I did find it a little surprising that the Toyota trucks symbol looks like a mushroom cloud. Maybe their symbolism for "returning the favor" upon American truck manufacturers?

    By the way, as an Asian-Canadian, do you always cover for allof your continental brethren? I mean, a Vietnamese or Idnonesian is about as related to a Japanese person as I (a US citizen) am to a Honduran. Actually, a better example, going to my European (Polish/French/German) roots (though I have Native American roots, as well), might see me offended of some slight made at the expense of Italians. It seems rather silly.

  11. Re:Racism by aiwarrior · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is a lot of things but calling a company racist just because it uses the same operation names as to do the same thing to the japanese not trough war but through free market is plain stupid. I'd mod you down flamebait if i had points.

  12. Yes, but.... by DrYak · · Score: 1

    Take his words with a grain of salt - all he writes about is Microsoft and he never has anything positive to say.


    Yes, but on the other hand, what positive stuff could possibly be said about Microsoft ?

    (Been there since MS-DOS 2.11, still haven't seen anything compliment-worthy)

    Oh, yeah, now I know : Thank you, Microsoft, for keeping the anti-virus makers in buisness !
    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  13. He spoke at the Penny Arcade eXpo.. by MrScience · · Score: 1

    A couple of people took pictures: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=alex+john+pax

    --

    You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco

  14. Heh... No, they didn't... by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    Want to be targeting games for the new high-end mobile phones about to come out? You'd better use OpenGL/OpenGL ES- DirectX doesn't work there.

    Want to target Wii? OpenGL ES will make your life a LOT easier. DirectX doesn't work there.

    Want to target PS3? Better use OpenGL. DirectX definitely doesn't work there.

    Want to target MacOS? Better use OpenGL. DirectX definitely doesn't work there.

    In reality, about only half of the total potential customer base for a title would benefit from a DirectX only title, if that. It all depends on the title, really. I know of new OpenGL based games being cranked out now to run on the other next-gen consoles as I'm typing this.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  15. Well... by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    You can always hope that the WINE guys get their DX9/DX10 interface done quickly enough. It will eventually be fashioned such that you can use OpenGL/WGL on Windows XP to run DirectX 10 games. Might not be QUITE as fast as it potentially could be with DX10, but after having seen the...performance...or rather, the lack thereof, on Vista, even with DX10 titles... It might not be any different, after all. >:-)

    Me, I'm going to keep using Linux, trying to get Linux titles going, and playing something OTHER than X-Box or Windows Vista titles.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  16. Re:Racism by ShadowsHawk · · Score: 1

    Disruption? Perhaps you can enlighten this poor ignorant American as to why Braveheart would be offensive. Perhaps it's a British cultural thing, but I don't understand your point.

  17. Re:Racism by Caffeinate · · Score: 1

    Would it be acceptable to you if I create an OS company with the aim of destroy a certain American company's market share and name it's first project 9/11?
    Personally I would have no problems (Canadian) but understand perfectly the point you are making. Part of this (and I know this is going to get modded flamebait) is arrogance; there's something about "us" that's just inherently better so if WE did it, it's OK.

    The other is the timeframe involved. WWII was 60+ years ago. 9/11 is only pushing 6. As time passes, wounds heal and jokes become more acceptable. Gilbert Godfried did stand up on 9/11 a week or so after it happened and may very well have ruined the little that was left of his career.

    On the whole though, we are all a little too sensitive. There's nothing "wrong", "illegal" or "bad" about such names, but they are very insensitive. When your aim is to push product, pissing off potential customers doesn't seem to be the way to go.
    --
    Godless heathen.