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DirectX 12 Lies Dormant Within Microsoft's Recent Windows 10 Update
MojoKid writes After last Wednesday's Windows 10 event, early adopters and IT types were probably anxious for Microsoft to release the next preview build. Fortunately, it didn't take long as it came out on Friday, and it's safe to say that it introduced even more than many were anticipating (but still no Spartan browser). However, in case you missed it, DirectX 12 is actually enabled in this Windows 10 release, though unfortunately we'll need to wait for graphics drivers and apps that support it, to take advantage of DX 12 features and performance enhancements.
Microsoft WANTS directX to remain relevant in the modern multiplatform environment. That's why they are bending over backwards trying to get people to buy windows phones.
Sadly for them, Android beat them to the punch for "Affordable smartphone OS", while apple beat them to the punch for "Luxury smartphone OS". This leaves microsoft scrambling for marketshare in the smartphone space.
MS keeps trying to reinvent windows "For a new era", but keeps failing miserably.
MS needs to realize that PCs arent the preferred gateways for social media like they used to be, (Phones have mostly replaced home computers for this) so social media integration with the OS on a PC is just stupidness. No reason why social media cant use web apps tailored for home PCs of course, but OS integration is not required nor desired. PCs have a pretty stable market niche if microsoft would stop trying to be idiots and realize that Peak PC is long passed.
PCs have 2 major remaining market niches:
1) Enterprise(/educational) workstations (Like, for doing WORK on.)
2) PC Gaming
Microsoft is still zealously trying to pretend that it owns the whole online media consumption experience, and keeps trying to integrate unwanted features into their OS to make it "Easier" to do social networking and other non-productive tasks which are better accomplished with a smartphone or tablet. This is to the detriment of the first market niche they currently hold; enterprise/educational workstations. Allowing users to more easily waste time on facebook is not a value-add for corporations looking to upgrade their installed workstation bases.
Really, I have to wonder what Microsoft is thinking these days.
did we just jump into an alternate reality where suddenly MS no longer has 90%+ of the desktop gaming market? OpenGL supporters have been saying DX is obsolete for over a decade and if anything they have lost market share during that time.
The developer has to support one or both. Most users don't care as long as everything works.
Really, I have to wonder what Microsoft is thinking these days.
Maybe they want to win back the consumer market they lost? Perhaps diversify a bit?
I just appreciate that they need to compete, and they are forcing their major competitors to bring new things to the table. Otherwise we might be looking at a repeat of mid-2000s, with stagnation like happened in Windows XP and IE 6... just with Apple or Google at the helm this time.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
The developer has to support one or both. Most users don't care as long as everything works.
And the developer generally means game engine developer, not game developer. If you want to write your own engine that's a pretty big job by itself.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
people write high end AAA games for windows desktops, on windows desktops DX is still by far and away the best choice for developers even without the coming performance improvements in DX 12. OpenGL has dodgy driver and vendor support, is more complex to program for and doesn't integrate all the controller and sound input as well as MS does. OpenGL has been subpar on windows for nearly a decade now and until they put some real effort into fixing that then DX will remain the dominate gaming platform that devs target. It doesn't matter what runs on Android or Apple or Linux or a mainframe for that matter, what matters is what runs on the platform people use high res gaming on.
Microsoft WANTS directX to remain relevant in the modern multiplatform environment.
PCs have 2 major remaining market niches:
1) Enterprise(/educational) workstations (Like, for doing WORK on.)
2) PC Gaming
Those 2 count for quite a lot, though. I don't think Microsoft are too worried about Mac and Linux supplanting Windows for gaming. It could happen, but that's been the case for years now. The same goes for workstations.
Windows is surprisingly resistant in the recent versions. The problem is that it is a complex piece of software with many parts, and no software is perfect.
Microsoft is the dominant player in the corporate workstation world, so it makes sense to target their platform for corporate and state espionage, and to zombify them for various other purposes that need a fleet of drone computers to perform.
This means that Windows has a large attack surface on both fronts, so it is aggressively being pummeled with attacks.
It is impossible to make the OS completely hackproof (due to issues related to the halting problem), which is why viruses are still a thing. They are getting more and more sophisticated as Microsoft makes it harder to do virus-like-things in their OS.
(The nastiest ones use the OS's own security model against the user. Nasty stuff there.)
Asking for perfect virus protection is like asking for perfect birth control. It does not exist, and the "best" solution is abstinence. (In this case, Not running every EXE you find on the internet.) As they say in the medical profession, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Same way in preventing viral infections for PCs.
All wrapping each process inside a sandbox would do, is move the focus of the virus programmers to breaking the sandbox, and getting control of the hypervisor. Trust me, the motivation would be there (both mental and monetary), and it would eventually happen. Sandboxing isnt a silver bullet.
The problem I have with modern windows is not what is under the hood-- it's what they are doing with the userspace. The UI is horrible! It's like Microsoft is taking every "popular" thing, and gluing it to the UI like a tawdry bauble. "let's stick twitter integration icons EVERYWHERE! Facebook too! You know what, let's display thumbnails of our news service's top story every time you click the start button!" and all that shit.
No. How about "I want to do my work now, go away." eh microsoft?
There's nothing wrong with providing the OPTION to have that level of deep hentai tentacle penetration with social networking if the user really wants that-- but it should not be a mainlined feature that is assumed to be on.
I dont have a problem with windows concerning what's under the hood. I have issues with how they are trying to engineer user experience and user consumption. They are trying to dictate. They confuse that with "Leading." It is NOT the same thing. It will continue to kill them until they learn their error.
What does it say about us that we now consider "doing work" to be a niche?
You are welcome on my lawn.