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images/news/windows.jpgDX10 is do-able on Windows XP
Microsoft backpedals for Nvidia, you lose
By Charlie Demerjian: Wednesday 11 July 2007, 08:56
EVER WONDER WHY MS refuses to release DX10 for XP, forcing users to Linux, and barring that, Vista - also known as Me II? It is easy, there was a technical reason, but it shot that down when Nvidia couldn't cut it. Now it is simply arm twisting. The original reason was that DX10 required graphics memory to be virtualisable, a laudable goal. You can see hints of it here and here among other places. This was a good thing, perhaps a really good thing, and Microsoft was clamping down on requirements with the usual subtlety of a convicted monopolist.
This would not work with XP, and that was fine and dandy. It was an honest technical reason why you could not backport DX10 to XP without a major rip and replace operation. Microsoft wasn't going to bend on this one at all.
Then something odd happened. Nvidia had about as much success implementing this required feature as it did with it Me II drivers, that is to say, none. It couldn't do it, but it was required for DX10. What's an arm twisting Vole to do? Backpedal obviously.
So, MS threw NV a life preserver and made GPU memory virtualisation completely optional. ATI, which had implemented a dandy memory virtualisation scheme got screwed, or at least got what everyone who partners with MS got. Oh wait, I said that.
In any case, in doing this, MS removed the only impediment to backporting DX10 to XP, it is now, and has been for quite a while, completely possible. MS is screwing its customers to force an upgrade and you are a pawn in their revenue generation scheme.
Sadly, I will admit that I did upgrade. I went from XP to Ubuntu and bought a Wii. Life could not be better now, gaming is fun again, and spyware is a distant memory.
Windows Live, DX10 looking up for XP
Gears of change for Gears of War?
By Wily Ferret: Friday 13 July 2007, 07:59
WE'RE HEARTING rumours out of sunny Santa Monica that the Windows Live programme isn't quite as Vista-centric as Volish operatives would like us to think. With Gears of War being announced for PC, creator Cliff Blezinski has been telling journalists that the game is coming to Windows XP as well as Vista, complete with Games for Windows Live integration for multiplayer and achievements.
G4WL!, as it is snappily abbreviated, is currently Vista-only and supported in Microsoft showcase titles Halo 2 and ShadowRun. Gears is, like these two, a Microsoft Game Studios title, but it seems like the playbook may be torn up at the behest of the rock-star developers. Meanwhile, Microsoft is issuing press releases left, right and centre announcing more XP G4WL! titles, including Viva Pinata. Confusion reigns in California.
Will this also mean an appearance for DX10 on XP?
Microsoft backpedals for Nvidia, you lose
By Charlie Demerjian: Wednesday 11 July 2007, 08:56
EVER WONDER WHY MS refuses to release DX10 for XP, forcing users to Linux, and barring that, Vista - also known as Me II? It is easy, there was a technical reason, but it shot that down when Nvidia couldn't cut it. Now it is simply arm twisting. The original reason was that DX10 required graphics memory to be virtualisable, a laudable goal. You can see hints of it here and here among other places. This was a good thing, perhaps a really good thing, and Microsoft was clamping down on requirements with the usual subtlety of a convicted monopolist.
This would not work with XP, and that was fine and dandy. It was an honest technical reason why you could not backport DX10 to XP without a major rip and replace operation. Microsoft wasn't going to bend on this one at all.
Then something odd happened. Nvidia had about as much success implementing this required feature as it did with it Me II drivers, that is to say, none. It couldn't do it, but it was required for DX10. What's an arm twisting Vole to do? Backpedal obviously.
So, MS threw NV a life preserver and made GPU memory virtualisation completely optional. ATI, which had implemented a dandy memory virtualisation scheme got screwed, or at least got what everyone who partners with MS got. Oh wait, I said that.
In any case, in doing this, MS removed the only impediment to backporting DX10 to XP, it is now, and has been for quite a while, completely possible. MS is screwing its customers to force an upgrade and you are a pawn in their revenue generation scheme.
Sadly, I will admit that I did upgrade. I went from XP to Ubuntu and bought a Wii. Life could not be better now, gaming is fun again, and spyware is a distant memory.
Windows Live, DX10 looking up for XP
Gears of change for Gears of War?
By Wily Ferret: Friday 13 July 2007, 07:59
WE'RE HEARTING rumours out of sunny Santa Monica that the Windows Live programme isn't quite as Vista-centric as Volish operatives would like us to think. With Gears of War being announced for PC, creator Cliff Blezinski has been telling journalists that the game is coming to Windows XP as well as Vista, complete with Games for Windows Live integration for multiplayer and achievements.
G4WL!, as it is snappily abbreviated, is currently Vista-only and supported in Microsoft showcase titles Halo 2 and ShadowRun. Gears is, like these two, a Microsoft Game Studios title, but it seems like the playbook may be torn up at the behest of the rock-star developers. Meanwhile, Microsoft is issuing press releases left, right and centre announcing more XP G4WL! titles, including Viva Pinata. Confusion reigns in California.
Will this also mean an appearance for DX10 on XP?
)...talker. 
