Windows 7 and DirectX 11 - not just good news for gamers!

Let me begin with some common knowledge to put us on some common ground. Vista sucks. By association, DirectX10 sucks. In fact, you might not even know what DirectX is -- and you would be forgiven!

DirectX is the piece of software that sits between your computer, and your video games. If you don't play games, you won't have heard of it. When you play a game on your PC it goes through DirectX. And until now, that's all DirectX did.

It's true: DirectX 10 premiered some nice new technologies. But because they were only available on Vista, which as we all know sucked more than a Hoover with a fresh, high-suction bag, DirectX 11 will be the first time most of us get to experience these new, funky technologies.
The buzz surrounding Windows 7 is vital, both to shift new computers and to encourage multimedia developers to produce new new games, or in some cases to ensure new software revisions are churned out (I'm looking at you, Adobe... give us CS5 already!) In fact, things have been so bad, so stagnant under the flatulent reign of Vista and DX10, that Apple users have been seriously considering the possibility that they're the leading multimedia platform.

Of course that's about as likely as Jobs beating Ballmer in a no-holds-barred mudwrestling match to the death (for those pondering the outcome of this rather nasty mental image, the brick-like bludgeoning qualities of the Xbox are far superior to the iPhone's sleek curves -- Ballmer would win, easily). No, Windows and DirectX were merely resting! Taking a break! Definitely, certifiably not dead. With the release of Windows 7 and DirectX 11 gamers and power users finally have a reason to upgrade from XP and DX9! And those of you that upgraded to the worst operating system since Windows Me -- Vista, you poor sods -- why not come along for the ride too?



As I alluded to earlier, it's not just gamers that gain from DirectX11 and Windows 7. With the inclusion of DirectCompute -- a shiny new technology -- applications will be able to utilise your graphics card's spare processing power for purposes other than gaming. Your graphics card, so often left idling, ticking-over during every-day use, will effectively turbo-charge your computer. Instead of your CPU handling all of the new-and-glossy bits of Windows 7, or slowing down to a standstill while you encode your hilarious lolcat videos for the delectation of your five adoring YouTube fans, your GPU (graphics processor) will kick into action and take on the bulk of the work. Neat.

But to finish off, for the real gamers out there -- because I know you're there in the wings, watching, waiting for Modern Warfare 2 -- check out this six-screened, 25-million-pixel, DirectX 11-powered, Windows 7-enabled geekgasm of a gaming setup, as originally covered by Anandtech.

Tags: directx, directx11, dx11, games, gaming, graphics, technology, windows 7, windows-7, Windows7