Is DirectX dead?

[Bullit]

Stirring the pot!
Seeing that Android is now the OS of choice, Steam seems to be going to Linux, games are appearing in Mac, plus the consoles... So, has DirectX future?

[Dwindleflip]

Valve is making a dumb move by going linux, developers wont follow. You think EA cares? They have origin. Valve is only moving to linux because they want to appear different than a windows PC, but by doing so they are limiting themselves to almost no developer support. Why would you buy a valve steam box when you already have a windows box with steam AND all the games in the world already working and future games obviously will support windows far more than linux. Valve is making a terrible move. Gabe made some really lame comments about windows 8 that I dont agree with at all. I suspect he was just trying to persuade his followers to make the move to valve's linux because lets face it, theres no real reason to move to linux for windows gamers.

Windows 8.1 is pretty killer. Surface pro's are amazing devices as are most of the windows 8 devices. Android is doing well but I dont see what that has to do with windows. Windows 8.1 handles both tablets and workstations so what more can you ask for? I dont want a limited mobile OS just because. I'd rather have a full OS capable of running everything I'm used to and more. A tablet with photoshop, mudbox, softimage, maya, zbrush vs android? I'll take windows 8.1 any day. With that said there is a place for android and IOS in the world but neither of them can deliver what Windows 8.1 can. Granted MS has to gain some ground in app support but Windows 8.1 is phenomenal and it manages to deliver a workstation OS on tablet devices. No one has done that before.

Apple wont gain much ground in gaming vs Windows either. most PC gamers like to build their own computers, and the PC is cheaper and overall more powerful due to the many options available.

TLDR: Not much will change, but gaming will expand some.

[csaez]

No matter how impressive the latest version of Windows may be, we are not doing us any favor by basing graphics on a proprietary technology (windows only).

It's too early to talk about anyone's death, but having options is a good thing in my book.

[Bullit]

Windows 8.1 is pretty killer. Surface pro's are amazing devices as are most of the windows 8 devices. Android is doing well but I dont see what that has to do with windows. Windows 8.1 handles both tablets and workstations so what more can you ask for?

I have to disagree, Windows 8 is a disaster because it increased complexity and increased investment an user have to make to use it for no big benefit.
Worse it could have done what it did without punishing the clients. But choose to.
If a person can get an hardware -any form - that makes possible to go to web, edit some text and some images/video, it does well the basics there is no need for Windows weight at all.
If a tablet starts in click of a button then everyone have reason to ask why something more powerful and expensive starts in 10-20 sec.
These texts is a partial picture of what many feel.

http://www.zdnet.com/why-ive-all-but-gi ... 000023083/

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-tablets-ar ... 000023011/

We that use complex applications will probably the last users of Windows if Microsoft is incapable of really improving it, not just some step to the side or worse like W8.

[Dwindleflip]

How is windows 8 more complex? I find it more refined. Even things like the right click "Advanced" menu is a huge time saver. I've been using computers since dos and I wouldnt describe windows 8 anymore complex to use, although computers are complex in nature.

I also dont see how it could be even considered a "disaster". Disaster is a bit too hyperbolic. A disaster would be if it performed terribly or something serious like it made computers blow up. If windows 7 was good, Windows 8 is better in every way technically and the sticking point for some was a start menu change which is a matter of preference and not performance.

Frankly there were a lot of people that didnt like windows 8 because of the start menu change. This is the common problem of people hating change. Its not even a drastic change and even though its an improvement in many ways...its still a change and people often just dont like change no matter what the additional benefits are. For example I dont like to model in Modo I feel more comfortable in softimage despite the obvious benefit of tools found in modo. However softimage offers enough tools and they work in a manner that I'm used to. Modo is not a disaster because I chose to not use it.

That "Why i've all but given up on windows" article is ridiculously unfair and appears to be written by someone trying to paint windows as garbage. He purposely compares Windows RT with his Apple devices and says its the illusion of windows, and that Apple devices are reliable while other devices are not. I run windows 8.1 24-7. I never shut down unless I need to restart. I've also owned iphones that needed to be rebooted because the OS and/or apps crashed them. I had the Iphone from version 1 and remember when it couldnt cut and paste or run apps etc. Its an unfair article to paint everything Apple as perfect. Its simply not true.

To compare windows RT and say it is the illusion of windows is willful ignorance. Everyone with a brain knew Windows RT was an ARM based windows OS which of course by nature doesn't support x86 x64 applications... and yes THAT would be considered a disaster, if it were the only version of Windows 8 available. However thats not the case. Windows Surface Pro tablets are incredible devices and they are not an "illusion" of windows. And yes Microsoft screwed up heavily by confusing the market with the rather useless and undesirable Windows 8 RT. I understand why they did because they felt they needed an OS on ARM but that is turning out to not be the case. Windows RT will most likely go down like NT for Dec Alpha, under used and forgotten. Of course MS could address the application compatibility problem with an emulation layer but Windows RT may not be much of an interest for them anymore. I'm not sure. Although it does appear someone else did write an emulation layer according to a quick google search. Anyways.

Apple makes some nice products, but they are not flawless. I've been heavily critical of MS and their inability to deliver follow through on good ideas. I've never liked the windows media player for example and all through out the itunes revolution MS just never seemed to be able to get it where as Apple did. This is why I use iTunes still today. Thats not to say Itunes is a shining example of programming. Frankly its a slow piece of poorly written shit but at least it has the features. people expect. I can render photorealistic images but scrolling through an itunes database takes an even more powerful computer

In all fairness, computers are complex things, and I've never used a perfect OS be it Apple, Irix, Dos, OS/2, Windows, Linux, c64s, atari 800s etc. They all have their problems They all have reasons to use them. I dont hate Apple anymore than I hate Microsoft or Linux, or Google etc but I do feel Windows 8 was a bold step towards an ideal goal and they succeeded in delivering that experience. Its not perfect, but 8.1 is better than windows 7. Win8.1 runs well, and it runs on tablets and workstations. I'll take that over a limited tablet OS any day. Sadly the author of that article doesnt see why anyone would do that. But then again I like to use photoshop, zbrush, mudbox softimage, maya etc, and the author may just read email and facebook. So to each his own. I'd rather have a machine capable of more things, than have a limited one.

[mc_axe]

Btw about directX and openGL future, check out Mantle from AMD

Kinda insane, i was talking to a very good programmer he said to me that mantle can be the death of those 2 in the long term.

http://www.frostbite.com/2013/11/mantle-for-developers/

[Bullit]

How is windows 8 more complex?

Between many things just one: Impossible to start on Desktop on 8.0. This pretty says it all about what is Microsoft mind. They are arrogant up to the point of appearing to have suicidal tendencies, that is the only explanation.

Change for the sake of change is waste of resources.
Start Menu didn't existed in W8. The poke in the eye of 8.1 start menu is forcing Metro, nice and what about someone that doesn't care about Metro?

is a matter of preference and not performance

.

GUI and matter of preference is performance related. Not only how many clicks to do something, flexibility,, but also the overall logic, can call it language or narrative.
When there is change how much time a person have to learn the new, is an investment. If the familiarity is destroyed that is a performance hit that is only reasonable if there is enough improvement that will pay off the said hit in the future.
If the investment in learning a new way doesn't bring a sensible improvement then it is a waste of resources.


Concerning the articles i linked i only agree with general critique.

[Dwindleflip]

Between many things just one: Impossible to start on Desktop on 8.0. This pretty says it all about what is Microsoft mind.

But you're talking about the past, and now that they've added the option to boot to desktop with 8.1... I'm assuming "whats on their mind" is listening to their users.

I never missed the option so it didnt bother me, but others were vocal such as yourself and they've listened.

They are arrogant up to the point of appearing to have suicidal tendencies, that is the only explanation

I think from their point of view they saw competition and they wanted to compete in the tablet space and in a way they've failed before. Remember MS was pioneering pen tablet devices years ago and Windows and the hardware wasnt really ready. Then Ipads show up, Android tablets etc and they wanted to make sure they didnt have another windows CE, or some useless OS. So whats better than ipad? An iPad with full OS, or even better one with an optional keyboard and pressure sensitive pen input device. Its logical and I think they made the right choice to tackle that.

I dont think they changed for the sake of changing. MS set a goal for being the first full workstation OS capable of running on desktop, laptops, tablets and more. Its not been a negative in my life at all. I think what they've done is ambitious and I like that. Again MS has been heading this direction for a long time now if you follow their efforts historically.

If they had not picked a direction and aimed for it, people would be criticizing them for being behind apple who would have done it first if MS had not.

GUI and matter of preference is performance related. Not only how many clicks to do something, flexibility,, but also the overall logic, can call it language or narrative.
When there is change how much time a person have to learn the new, is an investment. If the familiarity is destroyed that is a performance hit that is only reasonable if there is enough improvement that will pay off the said hit in the future.
If the investment in learning a new way doesn't bring a sensible improvement then it is a waste of resources.

Thats all true but in my experience it hasnt had a negative impact at all. I like the fact that I can organize the startmenu to show only what i want and not have an endless list of programs. I like the new search, and the new keyboard shortcuts and menus have actually helped me work faster. I like that users were forced to pin things to the taskbar finally. Its about time All that wasted space is now for launching apps without even going to the start menu. So thats faster than the old way. Sure you could do that since XP added the launch tab on the taskbar but the interface wasnt nearly as good as it is now with jump lists, thumbnail views etc.

The advanced menu really saves me time. Much faster to launch common admin tasks or command prompts or get to control panel or other places. I like that I can split screen netflix app and desktop. and not impact cpu performance at all while rendering In my experience i'm pretty happy with it. I dont miss the old start menu at all. I like that I can just press the windows key and type and it searches instantly what i want, including programs etc. It gets me to things faster than other windows before it.

[McNistor]

Microsoft has brought back the much-missed Start button, but not the Start menu it launched in Windows 7 and previous versions of the OS. Instead, when you hit the button, you are transported back to the Start screen just the same as you were when you clicked in the lower left corner of the screen -- the same location -- in Windows 8.

From here.

I don't have Win 8 so I'll have to talk from other people's experience.

Doesn't seem to me that they listened to the users.

Raluca Budiu's comment:

Windows 8 is optimized for content consumption rather than content production and multitasking. Whereas content consumption can easily be done on other media (tablets and phones), production and multitasking are still best suited for PCs. Windows 8 appears to ignore that.

OS for mindless consumer drones in other words.

[luceric]

windows 8 desktop is identical to windows 7 except for the start menu being full screen and the control panel having changed again. There is nothing loss in productivity. Plus, there is this other Metro part it that's for tablet, that Microsoft keeps referring to "windows 8" since they take the win7 desktop for granted. the metro part... no one would develop for it if Microsoft didn't put in windows proper, so it's a bit of a desperate move. Let's say what we all think: Nobody is interested in a mobile OS from Microsoft, so they need to shove it on people's lap to get developers. And it's working, places like Autodesk, Corel, avid, are making metro apps. I fully expect these apps to show up in the desktop and not only full screen next year, because Microsoft "knows" it's got a problem. It has such a problem that its CEO and several other heads are leaving.

[MauricioPC]

My biggest problem with Windows 8 or 8.1 for that matter, is the dammed tablet support of theirs. On Windows 7 you can disable and than delete the file, resulting on a more fluid pen and tablet use (Wacom), with fast response, etc.

O Windows 8 they've changed the service responsible and until now I can't seem to find a way to deleted/disable it. On general use, the lagging is not so perceivable, but on 3ds Max, for example, I can't access the hover menus because the pen lags to much. There are work around, but it makes the work to not be fluid.

Oh ... and I went to Wacom to get their help with this and the response I got was that my tablet (Wacom Bamboo Fun) is old, so the driver will not be updated. When I told them that my tablet is in perfect shape and is working fine, they replied that I should just buy a new one to have better hardware support.

I'm never buying a Wacom again.

P.S.: I realize that they can't make updated drivers for old products forever, but my tablet isn't that old (2011) and they shouldn't respond to me telling me to buy a new one or stop complaining. Customer service is a b*tch.

[Daniel Brassard]

it look like it is currently supported, not a legacy drivers.

I don't know who give you this response from Wacom, but I would certainly complain to their customer service head office.

Windows - Driver 5.3.2-1 (Vista, XP, Win 7 and Win 8) last updated 01/23/2013

http://us.wacom.com/en/support/drivers

[MauricioPC]

it look like it is currently supported, not a legacy drivers.

I don't know who give you this response from Wacom, but I would certainly complain to their customer service head office.

Windows - Driver 5.3.2-1 (Vista, XP, Win 7 and Win 8) last updated 01/23/2013

http://us.wacom.com/en/support/drivers

It's been a while now. I've received this response from their facebook page, of all places. Anyway, this driver doesn't have the option that solves the problem. According to the area blog post: "Some 3DS Max 2014 users report mouse + hovering menu problems in viewports with WACOM tablets and Windows 8. Solution: Go to the Wacom control panel and turn OFF the "Use Windows Link" option. It is in the mapping page of the panel."

This option is not present on the Bamboo drivers (the one you mentioned included) and that's why I was asking for help. But that's ok, I've being using 3ds Max less and less. But it's always nice to have it around to play with some cool tutorials I find on the internet.

Other than that ... Windows 8.1 is pretty solid. I had a few problems with 8.0 and some blue screen, but that appeared to be a problem with one specific application. On Windows 8.1, beside this Wacom problem (not exactly Wacom, since I have a cheap Trust tablet and the same problem occurs. So maybe it's the new MS tablet driver or 3ds Max that's a piece of crap! ) I haven't had any problems.

Copying files is faster, you can disable the annoying things of 8.1 (those damn hot corners). So all is good.

As to the whole 'Google is kind to us, Android is open' bla bla bla, people should really read this article http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/ ... necessary/. Very interesting stuff.