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[mrklaw]

I'm "fretting" because this is the first step on a long road towards the planned obsolescence of Windows 7. Which in turn paves the way for the planned obsolescence of the traditional Windows desktop for consumer products. Which finally may spell the end for open mainstream computing as we know it.

And worst, there are people that seem to relish this idea.

nah. Obsolete XP fine, 7 will be around for ages.

Watch 8 get mediocre uptake, then when consumers start getting it force fed to them via preloaded laptops etc there will be a backlash, and Windows 8 SP1 will reduce the in your face nature of Metro so it becomes more like an option to the desktop like Media Center.

 

[TheSeks]

http://i.imgur.com/9ltP5.gif

:lol But seriously: Anyone surprised by them trojan horsing this?

A better question is: Why hasn't everyone just gone with OpenGL/OpenAL/OpenWhatever and just left DirectX finally?

 

[Hiro_Kunimi_80]

Will any games use those features given the next generation of consoles won't have them?

why not ?

 

[angular graphics]

We can only hope it plays out exactly like Vista.

So Win9 will be exactly like Win8 with only a few improvements but people will love it because they have finally upgraded to new hardware, developers in the meantime have upgraded their applications, and hardware companies have made good drivers? Because that's the case of Vista<->7.

 

[Mavromatis]

Let me recap why it is bad:
Either you use the new technology and make your game a bit better and alienate users or you stay with the old one and we stay here talking about why PC gaming is dying for some time until we all switch to Windows 8 and shun Windows 7 users as idiots like we do for XP users.

P.S. : Just before pressing submit my Windows 8 gave me a blue sad screen. Create a conspiracy from that point.

 

[TheD]

oh no this has never happened before :O

and my god! a company locking out a feature for their newest software how dare they!

The windows 8 bashing is getting boring.

 

[sinnergy]

You guys only play games on PC's..

So upgrade for 30 $ to win 8.

 

[Osiris]

All this does is doom DirectX 11.1 to DirextX 10 levels of irrelevance, and guarantee it'll see the same amount of use, nice going MS!

I sometimes wonder where the brains that used to be at MS have gone, Google perhaps?

 

[EatChildren]

Will any games use those features given the next generation of consoles won't have them?

It doesn't matter what consoles have relative to the DirectX API, because all except the Xbox do not license DirectX (it is a Microsoft licensed API), and because hardware (even in the Xboxs) is customised to suit a specific console API.

Basically it doesn't mean anything, positive or negative, for the next generation of consoles.

 

[TheD]

You guys only play games on PC's..

So upgrade for 30 $ to win 8.

We don't like Windows 8!

 

[Cannon Goose]

I thought Windows 8 was 99.9% fine for the time I used it. Sure, I'm not using it anymore but I happily would if I could use D3DOverrider, SMAA/FXAA injectors and screen capture software without games crashing and incompatibilities occurring.

Sort that stuff out then I'll gladly go back to Windows 8.

 

[Eideka]

You guys only play games on PC's..

So upgrade for 30 $ to win 8.

How about no ?

 

[Durante]

Watch 8 get mediocre uptake, then when consumers start getting it force fed to them via preloaded laptops etc there will be a backlash, and Windows 8 SP1 will reduce the in your face nature of Metro so it becomes more like an option to the desktop like Media Center.

I really hope you are right, but I think MS wants a slice of that Apple pie too hard to give in so easily.

You guys only play games on PC's..

So upgrade for 30 $ to win 8.

Way to miss the point. It's not at all about the cost of the upgrade.

:lol But seriously: Anyone surprised by them trojan horsing this?

A better question is: Why hasn't everyone just gone with OpenGL/OpenAL/OpenWhatever and just left DirectX finally?

Microsoft's tool support is second to none.

 

[Jawmuncher]

We'll see how important this is.
I remember when Vista came out and Halo 2 and some other games could only be played on that version of Direct X. Lo and behold a fix was released and you could play without it.

Besides I don't need that .1 anyway

 

[Technosteve]

Sales of dx 11.1 graphics cards are going to be pointless.

 

[red731]

I, ain't, MOVIN!

Spoiler

from Win7

 

[SteveWD40]

You win todays Internet.

 

[TheD]

We'll see how important this is.
I remember when Vista came out and Halo 2 and some other games could only be played on that version of Direct X. Lo and behold a fix was released and you could play without it.

Besides I don't need that .1 anyway

The funny thing is that Halo 2 did not use DX10, they just made the game call some feature that only vista had (but did nothing).

 

[Takamura-San]

As a win8 user, this is non-news for me

Still surprised that there are voluntary XP users out there....

 

[GWX]

Windows 8 is great, and since the store is only for metro apps, I'm fine with it. It's meant to be like app stores for tablet devices, and it doesn't affect the desktop in any single way. Also, they are giving us PC versions of previously XBLA exclusive games via Windows Store, which is awesome!

 

[angular graphics]

We'll see how important this is.
I remember when Vista came out and Halo 2 and some other games could only be played on that version of Direct X. Lo and behold a fix was released and you could play without it.

Besides I don't need that .1 anyway

Those were DX9 games anyway. Completely different issue.

Halo 2, a game that uses DX9, which is available on XP, but the game has been made to artificially require Vista.

Super Awesome DX11.1 Game, a game that uses DX11.1, which is not available on anything other than Win 8.

 

[Mavromatis]

Let me recap why it is bad:
Either you use the new technology and make your game a bit better and alienate users or you stay with the old one and we stay here talking about why PC gaming is dying for some time until we all switch to Windows 8 and shun Windows 7 users as idiots like we do for XP users.

P.S. : Just before pressing submit my Windows 8 gave me a blue sad screen. Create a conspiracy from that point.

Also according to Steam statistics Windows 8 had 2% at the moment and it is the third week of sales. Even with the release preview it is the third month. It is growing fast.

 

[OmegaTreeFish]

so this will stop me playing what exactly? Im on win 7 with a direct x 10.1 card (HD4870 that holds up surprisingly well still) still and have not seen a game I cant play yet (one that I want at least).

 

[derExperte]

Don't expect too much tho. This time nobody (except gamers) give 2 f*uck about desktop pcs & windows. It's all about smartphones end tablet nowadays

No, it's not. Don't believe the post-pc fairy tale.

(and 8 since it supports desktop as legacy feature, like Win 3.1 supported MS-DOS).

Please link to where MS has stated the desktop will be phased out and should thus be considered legacy in Win8? And no, what you think they'll do sometime in the future doesn't count, show me proof.

 

[hodgy100]

I'm sorry, jumped the gun a bit

This wont really mean much DX 11.1 will get little support much like DX 10.1 did, and not many games even use DX11 currently anyway so its not like all of a sudden all games won't be supported on windows 7 they will still most likely revert back to standard DX 11 if you are on windows 7.

Its just that people are so quick to berate something for small reasons when there are more legitimate reasons to complain about windows 8 (closed store) and when another small flaw like this is revealed people dog pile on it and make it seem more of a big deal than it actually is.

 

[PapaJustify]

Oh no, a minor update to DirectX is exclusive to Windows 8, while 95% of all game developers weren't even able (or didn't want) to adopt any DirectX 11.0 features on a bigger scale in three years.

I have to take a day off from work now to handle all this shocking.

 

[lowrider007]

I'm not too clued up on this, are W7 and W8 using different architecture?

The thread title says "no plans to retrofit" what does that mean exactly? are the features in DX 11.1 not compatible with W7 then?

I guess we should of expected this but it's still annoying that MS continue to use DX to brute force people into upgrading their OS.

 

[Kokonoe]

Well, Direct X11 is good enough for me.

Excellent.

 

[Danj]

Pardon me if I'm being dense but if I don't care about stereoscopic 3D with glasses and stuff, is this news something I should care about?

 

[bobbytkc]

You guys only play games on PC's..

So upgrade for 30 $ to win 8.

I have been using it for 2 weeks. Nope. Win 7 is better.

 

[Lord Panda]

Personally I don't mind so long as MS supports it with ports of their console games and dedicated PC games instead of leaving it as an afterthought.

They could start by allowing me to play all my XBLA games on my PC. I just wish they took PC gaming seriously.

Also wish Valve had the stones to develop and release their SteamBox thingy; seems like the right time for it.

 

[jediyoshi]

oh no this has never happened before :O

and my god! a company locking out a feature for their newest software how dare they!

The windows 8 bashing is getting boring.

That's not what's getting boring.

 

[Azih]

Yeah I don't see any reason why DX11.1 shouldn't be on 7 at all. Bad move MS.

 

[DragonSworne]

Just curious, do most of them choose windows server 2012 or windows 7 then? Or do you mean jumping to OSx or Linux?

Windows 7 for their desktop users.

Most companies I've been to use zLinux or Solaris for their application servers.


I have not been to a company that uses Windows for anything but their desktop machines.

 

[lexi]

90% of games run DX9 thanks to consoles so this has pretty much no tangible effect.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Can't Microsoft just leave PC gaming alone?

Microsoft already does leave PC gaming alone for the most part. What they're trying to do is get YOU to leave PC gaming alone. You're supposed to be a good little consumer sheep and lock yourself into their console walled garden.

After they got into the console business their PC gaming support has been token at best, anti-consumer attempts to force OS upgrades at worst.

Well, we know how the Vista/DX10/Shadowrun story ended. Curious that Microsoft themselves seem to have forgotten.

 

[Derrick01]

Haha fuck off MS. I'm going to laugh when this backfires when almost everyone chooses not to put it in their game.

 

[jokkir]

Oh, Microsoft. Though, I do plan on buying Windows 8 soon to try it out

 

[Stallion Free]

I think this pretty much confirms that devs will ignore it like they did DX10.1.

They aren't going to waste their time supporting something that the currently smallest PC gaming subset has access to. DX11 hasn't even been embraced and far more people have DX11 capable setups.

 

[massoluk]

Oh man, fucking BS that.

 

[Interfectum]

MS won't be happy until they've destroyed PC gaming will they?

 

[Riggs]

Windows 8 Vista , joy.

 

[jokkir]

MS won't be happy until they've destroyed PC gaming will they?

Gotta get more Xbox sales somehow!

 

[DragonSworne]

What happens if MS kills PC gaming and the next Xbox isn't successful?

 

[Stallion Free]

MS can't kill PC gaming. And a pathetic-ass move like this won't even dent it.

 

[RuGalz]

Even game devs don't want to run Win8 on their dev machines, so none of these features will be used in games anyway. Nothing's lost

 

[epmode]

God, this company is awful. Still not buying Windows 8.

"Retrofit," LOL.

 

[Eideka]

MS can't kill PC gaming. And a pathetic-ass move like this won't even dent it.

Amen.

 

[Chev]

So where's the technical justification? Ditching XP support with DX10 made perfect sense because of the radically new driver model and the need to cut more than a decade worth of legacy code.

But for a .1 release like this? I'd be happy to hear it and if its q valid justification, then fine, but I will remain sceptical until then.

I love how a xx.1 version of something requires a new OS to run...

Shouldn't they call it DirectX12 if that's the case? Anti consumerism at it's highest.

So ummmm is any of that actually worth anything? Will any games use those features given the next generation of consoles won't have them?

Basically almost all the new stuff is to make it possible to run in Metro's heavily shared environment. It's not new effects or stuff like that, it's just that DirectX always was a pain in the neck to run in several processes at the same time (the reason why many games have to reload tons of stuff if they're minimized then on focus again) so 11.1 makes the necessary changes for it to run smoothly while sharing the GPU. No need to panic... yet.

Why are people fretting? It's not like we won't be able to run games on Win7 anymore. Most games are still dx9 on Win7 because of GPU compatibility reasons. Same thing will happen with Win8 with regards to dx10/11 GPUs.

Actually that's one of their really scary clever things on the dev side: you can run DX11 fine on DX9 devices, as long as you just use the DX9 subset of features. This may seem useless but will encrouage devs to switch to the newer, easier to use API while still allowing for easier conversions, and sneakily lower the resistance to post-DX9 development. Plus one of the big factors in favor of DX9 was the tech level of consoles and that's gonna change when the new ones are officially announced and support a better feature set.

MS is way too entrenched in business software to allow that to happen. Corporations would throw a huge fit if MS stopped supporting the OSs they were using and tried to lock down the only supported MS OS available.

I think W9 will be a more traditional OS release with DX12 and everyone is going to try to forget W8 ever existed.

I was at a MS event last week and basically while absolutely nothing is official the general feeling floating around is they may try to only include the desktop on the pro edition of the next Windows. This will ensure corporations will say absolutely nothing while still locking up the non-biz marketplace. Non-biz users will be pushed towards office 365, which only requires a browser to run, or even an app version of it.

 

[syko de4d]

i am very happy with my Win8 but this is still a bad move from MS :/