![]() Direct. X - Wikipedia. Microsoft Direct. X is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct. D, Direct. Draw, Direct. Music, Direct. Play, Direct. Sound, and so forth. The name Direct. X was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs (the X standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the X was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on Direct. X technology. Direct. D is also used by other software applications for visualization and graphics tasks such as CAD/CAM engineering. As Direct. 3D is the most widely publicized component of Direct. X, it is common to see the names . Originally, the runtimes were only installed by games or explicitly by the user. Windows 9. 5 did not launch with Direct. X, but Direct. X was included with Windows 9. OEM Service Release 2. The SDK is available as a free download. While the runtimes are proprietary, closed- source software, source code is provided for most of the SDK samples. ![]()
Starting with the release of Windows 8 Developer Preview, Direct. X SDK has been integrated into Windows SDK. An important factor in the value consumers would place on it was the programs that would be able to run on it. Three Microsoft employees—Craig Eisler, Alex St. John, and Eric Engstrom—were concerned because programmers tended to see Microsoft's previous operating system, MS- DOS, as a better platform for game programming, meaning few games would be developed for Windows 9. This was compounded by negative reception surrounding the Windows port of The Lion King. ![]() The game used Win. G, which crashed on Compaq Presarios that came shipped with it following a partnership between Compaq and Disney, as the Cirrus Logic display drivers used by the Presarios were not thoroughly tested with the API. Microsoft needed a quick solution for programmers; the operating system was only months away from being released. Eisler (development lead), St. John, and Engstrom (program manager) worked together to fix this problem, with a solution that they eventually named Direct. X. The first version of Direct. X was released in September 1. ![]() Windows Games SDK. It was the Win. 32 replacement for the DCI. Direct. X allowed all versions of Microsoft Windows, starting with Windows 9. Eisler wrote about the frenzy to build Direct. X 1 through 5 in his blog. Since Windows 9. 5 was itself still new and few games had been released for it, Microsoft engaged in heavy promotion of Direct. ![]() Microsoft Vista Speech Recognition Tested By FireThe difficulty I was having with handwriting recognition using MS tools, could have found a solution in SimpleOCR. But the software offers handwriting. Free translation service for online automatic translation of text and web pages, translating between many languages, including Spanish, French, Japanese, German. ![]() X to developers who were generally distrustful of Microsoft's ability to build a gaming platform in Windows. John, the evangelist for Direct. X, staged an elaborate event at the 1. Computer Game Developers Conference which game developer Jay Barnson described as a Roman theme, including real lions, togas, and something resembling an indoor carnival. A variety of different graphics cards, audio cards, motherboards, CPUs, input devices, games, and other multimedia applications were tested with each beta and final release. The Direct. X team also built and distributed tests that allowed the hardware industry to confirm that new hardware designs and driver releases would be compatible with Direct. ![]() X. Prior to Direct. X, Microsoft had included Open. GL on their Windows NT platform. As 3. D gaming grew, Open. GL developed to include better support for programming techniques for interactive multimedia applications like games, giving developers choice between using Open. GL or Direct. 3D as the 3. D graphics API for their applications. At that point a . Incidentally, Open. GL was supported at Microsoft by the Direct. X team. If a developer chose to use Open. GL 3. D graphics API, the other APIs of Direct. X are often combined with Open. GL in computer games because Open. GL does not include all of Direct. X's functionality (such as sound or joystick support). In a console- specific version, Direct. X was used as a basis for Microsoft's Xbox, Xbox 3. Xbox Oneconsole API. The API was developed jointly between Microsoft and Nvidia, which developed the custom graphics hardware used by the original Xbox. The Xbox API was similar to Direct. X version 8. 1, but is non- updateable like other console technologies. The Xbox was code named Direct. Xbox, but this was shortened to Xbox for its commercial name. Microsoft has continued to update the Direct. X suite since then, introducing Shader Model 3. Direct. X 9. 0c, released in August 2. As of April 2. 00. Direct. Show was removed from Direct. X and moved to the Microsoft Platform SDK instead. Direct. X has been confirmed to be present in Microsoft's Windows Phone 8. Controversially, the original name for the Direct. X project was the . John, head of Microsoft Direct. X evangelism at the time, claims. Additionally, while not Direct. X components themselves, managed objects have been built on top of some parts of Direct. X, such as Managed Direct. D. Rather, programs that are run on a Windows XP system with Direct. X 1. 0 hardware simply resort to the Direct. X 9. 0c code path, the latest available for Windows XP computers. Many former parts of Direct. X API were deprecated in the latest Direct. X SDK and are preserved for compatibility only: Direct. Input was deprecated in favor of XInput, Direct. Sound was deprecated in favor of the Cross- platform Audio Creation Tool system (XACT) and additionally lost support for hardware accelerated audio, since the Vista audio stack renders sound in software on the CPU. The Direct. Play DPLAY. DLL was also removed and was replaced with dplayx. DLL must duplicate it and rename it to dplay. In order to achieve backwards compatibility, Direct. X in Windows Vista contains several versions of Direct. D. Details and advantages of Vista's Windows Display Driver Model are hidden from the application if WDDM drivers are installed. This is the only API available if there are only XP graphic drivers (XDDM) installed, after an upgrade to Vista for example. Direct. 3D 9. Ex (known internally during Windows Vista development as 9. L or 9. L): allows full access to the new capabilities of WDDM (if WDDM drivers are installed) while maintaining compatibility for existing Direct. D applications. The Windows Aero user interface relies on D3. D 9. Ex. Direct. 3D 1. Designed around the new driver model in Windows Vista and featuring a number of improvements to rendering capabilities and flexibility, including Shader Model 4. Direct. 3D 1. 0. 1 is an incremental update of Direct. D 1. 0. 0 which shipped with, and required, Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Direct. 3D 1. 0. 1 still fully supports Direct. D 1. 0 hardware, but in order to utilize all of the new features, updated hardware is required. Parts of the new API such as multi- threaded resource handling can be supported on Direct. D 9/1. 0/1. 0. 1- class hardware. Hardware tessellation and Shader Model 5. Direct. 3D 1. 1 supporting hardware. This helps to keep backwards compatibility with previous versions of Direct. X. Microsoft released the Final Platform Update for Windows Vista on October 2. Windows 7 (launched with Direct. D 1. 1 as a base standard). Direct. X 1. 1. 1 is included in Windows 8. It supports WDDM 1. Direct. 2D (now at version 1. Direct. 3D, and Direct. Compute, and includes Direct. XMath, XAudio. 2, and XInput libraries from the XNA framework. It also features stereoscopic 3. D support for gaming and video. It is meant to complement Direct. X 1. 2 as a higher- level alternative. Direct. X 1. 2 APIs are also expected to feature on the Xbox One and Windows Phone. Developers are now able to implement their own command lists and buffers to the GPU, allowing for more efficient resource utilization through parallel computation. Lead developer Max Mc. Mullen, stated that the main goal of Direct. D 1. 2 is to achieve . Linked GPUs will allow Direct. X to view graphics cards in SLI or Cross. Fire. X as a single GPU and use the combined resources. Whereas Unlinked GPUs will allow GPUs from different vendors to be utilized by Direct. X, such as supplementing the dedicated GPU with the integrated GPU on the CPU, or combining AMD and NVIDIA cards. However, elaborate mixed multi- GPU setups requires significantly more attentive developer support. Direct. X 1. 2 will be essentially supported on all Kepler and later Nvidia GPUs, on AMD's GCN- based chips and on Intel's Haswell and later processors' graphics units. Testing by Ars Technica in August 2. Direct. X 1. 2 over Direct. X 1. 1 mode for the Nvidia Ge. Force 9. 80 Ti, whereas the AMD Radeon R9 2. Direct. X 1. 2, in some scenarios the AMD outperformed the more powerful Nvidia under Direct. X 1. 2. The performance discrepancies may be due to poor Nvidia driver optimizations for Direct. X 1. 2, or even hardware limitations of the card which was optimized for Direct. X 1. 1 serial execution, however the exact cause remains unclear. Raymond Chen of Microsoft explained in his book, The Old New Thing, that after Direct. X 3 was released, Microsoft began developing versions 4 and 5 at the same time. Version 4 was to be a shorter- term release with small features, whereas version 5 would be a more substantial release. The lack of interest from game developers in the features stated for Direct. X 4 resulted in it being shelved, and the corpus of documents that already distinguished the two new versions resulted in Microsoft choosing to not re- use version 4 to describe features intended for version 5. Last version to have built- in RGB software rendering support. RC1. 0)November 1. RC1. 4)February 5, 2. Last supported version for Windows 9. October 2. 5, 2. 00. Windows XP, Windows XP SP1, Windows Server 2. Xbox exclusive. 4. RC7)November 8, 2. This version is for the down level operating systems (Windows 9. Windows ME and Windows 2. RC?)2. 00. 2This release includes an update to Direct. D (D3d. 8. dll)8. RC7)June 2. 5, 2. Good- Bye, Microsoft Money! Powerful Personal Finance Programs. Microsoft Money is no longer available for purchase. Microsoft has essentially conceded that there’s no demand for the personal finance software product. From the website: With banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2. Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 3. Now that Microsoft has thrown in the towel, where does that leave existing users of Money and Money Plus? Some of them are worried. I’ve received several e- mails about this recently, including this one from Lee G.: “Microsoft just left us in a lurch by killing Money. Any suggestions on finance software? I’m not really a fan of Quicken, but would entertain it.”It would have been nice if Microsoft had provided a list of these “personal finance management and planning tools.” Since they didn’t, I spent a couple of hours surveying the current personal finance software options. Here are some powerful personal finance software programs to take the place of Microsoft Money: Ace. Money is a Windows desktop app that offers all the features you’d expect: downloadable transactions, budgeting, investment tracking, and more. Ace. Money costs $3. Budgetpulse is a free “upbeat” way to manage your money. It offers standard budgeting and tracking features, as well as international compatibility. One of this program’s stated goals is simplicity; it doesn’t try to do a whole lot other than track your core accounts. Clear. Checkbook is “an extremely easy to use tool that helps you balance your checkbook and manage your money. Think of us as an online checkbook register with the added bonus of viewing reports, setting budgets, creating reminders and more.” A premium version adds features. According to the intro video, Geezeo also has the ability to track investments. Micah tried Geezeo and liked the goal- setting and community aspects of the tool. Mint has become the Big Daddy of online personal- finance apps, with almost a million registered users. Mint offers support for investment accounts, which is cool, and allows users to create personal budgets. I’ve heard both praise and complaints from Mint users, so it sounds like something you’ll need to try to see if it’s right for you. It’s available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Moneydance offers budgeting tools, investment tracking, and many built- in reports. Because I prefer a desktop money app, I’m very tempted to try this. Strands is the new kid on the block. Based in part on a financial management tool from Spain, money. Strands offers all of the features you’d expect (though no investment- management yet). This tool offers lots of budgeting goals with highly- configurable alerts (“let me know when I’ve spent $3. It also allows you to compare your finances with other demographics (not individual users, but groups of users). If you prefer Spanish, this app is for you. Phone app available. Mvelopes is a web- based version of the envelope budgeting system. It automatically connects with most banks and offers a free billpay service. This looks like a slick product, but it’s by far the most expensive program on this list. At a minimum, it costs $7. Quicken is perhaps the most popular personal- finance software available today. It’s fairly comprehensive and well- supported, but not without problems. Old versions are “sunset- ed” at regular intervals, forcing users to upgrade if they want to continue using certain features. I use Quicken for Mac, which supposedly updates investment portfolios automatically. My copy is broken though, and I can’t get it to update correctly. There’s an online version of Quicken, but to be honest, I haven’t heard good things about it. As with all of these programs, it allows you to connect to all of your accounts. It also helps you schedule upcoming bill payments. Rudder claims that its “secret sauce” is a widget to help predict your future cashflow. I haven’t used this software myself, but I know that it allows you to import bank transactions, pay bills, etc. YNAB isn’t for users who want to track investment accounts, but is good for those who want to emphasize budgeting. Yodlee is the grandpappy of online money- management software. It’s the platform on which many tools, including Mint, are based. But Yodlee also offers its own personal- finance product called Money. Center. As you’d expect, it provides the same account- tracking functionality that most of these applications have, but it doesn’t feature budgeting as prominently. Yodlee offers tight integration with most banks, and also has a billpay feature. There’s not a lot to differentiate them. Wesabe has a great community, Mint tracks investment accounts, and money. Strands offers a Spanish- language option. Each program offers something unique. But is there any one app that knocks it out of the park? I don’t know. What do you think? Which option would you recommend for refugees from Microsoft Money? For myself, I’ll continue to use the desktop version of Quicken on my Mac for my personal finance software. It’s not perfect, but I know its quirks. Addendum: Many commenters also recommend gnucash, a free Open Source money- management tool. I considered listing gnucash, but discarded the idea because the software is billed as an “accounting” package. GRS readers report that it’s actually very suitable for personal finances. Note: There are many other specialized personal- finance apps out there: Pear. Budget for budgeting, Fuelly for tracking gas mileage, etc. I’ll do a run- down of these in the future. GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve their financial goals. Savings interest rates may be low, but that is all the more reason to shop for the best rate. Find the highest savings interest rates and CD rates from Synchrony Bank, Ally Bank, and more. This article is about Budgeting. Budgeting. Savings.
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