Going to detract a bit and have a very technical post than usual. I apologize in advance. Since the background is rather wordy, I’m going to start with the assertions, then the context under the cut.
The Point of This Post:
Users of Windows 7 will still need to run programs in DX10 and DX9. There’s no reason why the OS should be updated to the latest of DirectX; Especially when the updates are over four years old.
Windows 7 must include a fully patched DirectX installation.
Windows Update needs to include DirectX as apart of updatable software.
Of all the ‘optional’ and ‘critical’ software that Windows Update includes, updating a core API as DirectX is to Windows should be one of them. Updating DirectX is crucial for any graphics intensive program, especially Games for Windows. Why not include it, even as an ‘optional’ update?
DirectX needs real version identification
Did you know there are at least 17 versions of DirectX 9.0c and 8 versions of DirectX 10? All of which report with only on version number?
Did you also know that Vista still needs updates to DirectX9, but wasn’t included when Vista was released?
This makes it very hard to do technical support when no one can decree a realistic version number.
Continue reading The Problem of DirectX