Direct X 11.1 is Windows 8 exclusive, no plans to retrofit

[Feels Good Man]

Windows 8 is to receive Direct X 11.1 exclusively, with no plans to make it available for older versions of Microsoft’s OS. In response to the company’s position, a Microsoft employee has discussed the move on its official forum.

Neowin reports that Microsoft employee Daniel Moth took to the Microsoft Answers forum to discuss the move, where he said, “DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, just like DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7. DirectX 11 was made available for Vista …. but at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7.”

The update will allow stereoscopic 3D to be viewed with compatible glasses, among other features. here’s a full update list:

Shader tracing and compiler enhancements
Direct3D device sharing
Check support of new Direct3D 11.1 features and formats
Use HLSL minimum precision
Specify user clip planes in HLSL on feature level 9 and higher
Create larger constant buffers than a shader can access
Use logical operations in a render target
Force the sample count to create a rasterizer state
Process video resources with shaders
Extended support for shared Texture2D resources
Change subresources with new copy options
Discard resources and resource views
Support a larger number of UAVs
Bind a subrange of a constant buffer to a shader
Retrieve the subrange of a constant buffer that is bound to a shader
Clear all or part of a resource view
Map SRVs of dynamic buffers with NO_OVERWRITE
Use UAVs at every pipeline stage
Extended support for WARP devices
Use Direct3D in Session 0 processes

http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/12/direct-x-11-1-is-windows-8-exclusive-no-plans-to-retrofit/

This is like Windows Vista and DX10 all over again. Bahahaha

 

[porkiewpyne]

Meh, I'll live...... I think

 

[chris888222]

DX 11 for the sake of changing my currently good OS to a live tile gimmicky layout?
No thanks, I'll pass. This is not Vista -> 7.

 

[zygie]

I'll definitely live. I recently just started PC gaming again and the lot of games I've been playing only ever show using DX9. And, I don't notice the small GR8 GFX OMG stuff anyway.

 

[Arras]

A. I'm using Windows 8 in the first place
B. I don't have a proper graphics card
So yeah, not really relevant for me. It's good that MS is really trying to push their new OS though (especially the people still on XP should really upgrade).

 

[Foxi4]

...and? What's wrong in that?

Microsoft made it clear that they are going to phase out old-style Windows in favour of the new style - Windows 8 is *better* at a variety of tasks and if you're so sacred of Metro, you can always use a third-party start menu. I fail to understand the animosity towards a system that's simply better than 7.

Knowing life, the system files will be "ported" anyways - Windows 7 and 8 are for the most part compatible with each other and it should not pose a problem for hobbysts.

 

[Gh0sti]

why do people hate windows 8 I and my CS friends have upgraded and they all like it so why do people hate it.

Accept change and move on windows 8 the really big difference between that and 7 is that the Start menu has a GUI thats the only difference I have seen so stop complaining it works and it works well and faster than 7

 

[FAST6191]

Interesting. Although I was never a fan of the move I could kind of see them not bothering with DX10 on XP. I shall have to ponder what DX11.1 actually means (DX10 was something of a leap until it more or less stalled with Vista and the consoles still being DX9 vintage and DX11 was but a minor tweak on that) before I decide whether I should be annoyed. WINE and similar such projects seem to be doing a bit as well (too early to call whether ReactOS will remain an amusement forever although that I am considering it probably says something).

That said Windows 8 legit licenses are not that bad (and I dare say the 128 gig RAM limit of the entry edition vs the 512 of the big boy editions probably won't trouble anything)- were I looking at a price like that of a standalone 7 license it might come down a "on principle thing".

 

[Guild McCommunist]

TBH I kinda like Windows 8's layout, I think people need to realize that desktops can't look like Windows 95 reskins for their entire lifespan.

I'm really thinking about upgrading to Windows 8 if it has compatibility with stuff that matters. While I'm not a big gamer on my laptop this is just a small bonus incentive.

 

[Rydian]

I fail to understand the animosity towards a system that's simply better than 7.

Humans hate change, and the windows 8 desktop/UI is a radical change from the desktop that a lot of us have used almost every day for over 15 years.

It's like if somebody came out with a car that has the steering wheel in your seat and you steer with your butt. It doesn't matter how much safer it is, how much more ergonomic, or how much easier it is for a new user... it's detrimental to people used to the standard workflow, and for that reason they're very hesitant to change.

 

[Pong20302000]

what film is this from

 

[Bladexdsl]

They can shove it up their ass; I'm not getting windows 8 as dx 11 is working fine for me don't need 11.1. Win7 and dx 11 work just fine and will still be supported for ages anyway so no loss to me.

 

[Hadrian]

Humans hate change, and the windows 8 desktop/UI is a radical change from the desktop that a lot of us have used almost every day for over 15 years.

I thought it was more to do with a lot of very notable developers and studios coming out against the platform stating how closed it is. I'll just repost these quotes from Croteam:

What you don’t see here is that, under the hood, the new tiled UI is a means for Microsoft to lock Windows applications into a walled garden, much like the one on iOS.

One cannot release a tiled UI application by any other means, but only through Windows Store. I cannot even begin to stress out just how horrible this idea is! There is no side-loading, except for corporate use inside one company, and that works only on the enterprise edition of Windows 8. Do we all understand what that means? You cannot download an application from the Internet and run it on your computer. You have to get it from Microsoft's store. Even if it is a free app!

Each app that you will get through the Windows Store will have to adhere to certain requirements imposed by MS. So far, we know that they've banned mature games, like Skyrim, CoD, and Serious Sam. They have forbidden modding. They could very well forbid Open Source if they want.

I don't know much about Windows 8 to know if it's just developers overreacting but a lot of the negative comments I've read have mentioned all of this and very few are pissed because it means eventually you'll have to buy W8 to run the latest software. Those who hate the tiled design just say "meh, I'll switch to desktop mode".

 

[Arras]

TBH I kinda like Windows 8's layout, I think people need to realize that desktops can't look like Windows 95 reskins for their entire lifespan.

I'm really thinking about upgrading to Windows 8 if it has compatibility with stuff that matters. While I'm not a big gamer on my laptop this is just a small bonus incentive.

I've been using Win8 for a month or something and the only thing it was not compatible with were my Bluetooth drivers (which I never use anyway). And yeah most people are just going "IT LOOKS DIFFERENT SO I HATE IT GET OFF MAH LAWN".

I thought it was more to do with a lot of very notable developers and studios coming out against the platform stating how closed it is. I'll just repost these quotes from Croteam:



I don't know much about Windows 8 to know if it's just developers overreacting but a lot of the negative comments I've read have mentioned all of this and very few are pissed because it means eventually you'll have to buy W8 to run the latest software. Those who hate the tiled design just say "meh, I'll switch to desktop mode".

You can still do everything you could in Desktop mode, but it is true that the MS Store is limited. Then again, as long as the desktop mode is still there and working, it's not like it's mandatory for devs to port their stuff to the MS store.

 

[Foxi4]

(...) windows 8 desktop/UI is a radical change from the desktop that a lot of us have used almost every day for over 15 years. (...) it's detrimental to people used to the standard workflow, and for that reason they're very hesitant to change.

Oh, I can see that, but at the same time, we traded the command line for GUI's back in the day and I don't see people running around and nagging how the command line is far superior due to its capacity to inject parameters when running executables.

It takes some time to get used to the new GUI - of course it does. I personally don't understand why Metro isn't just an optional overlay to ease the users into using it, but I'm not going to condemn an entire system because of it, especially if I can download a plugin that'll put the Start Menu right where it belongs.

The fun part is that most people don't really use Start Menu shortcuts - it's infinitely easier to put your shortcuts on the desktop and use that instead. Using the Start Menu, it takes several clicks and a lot of navigation to find what you're looking for, unless you're using the search bar. With Metro, all your executables are in one place, you can customize tiles and icons to your liking and you can *still* search, so at the end of the day, this really does run down to hating.

The MetroUI is *confusing at first*, I'll give you that. I personally prefere using the standard desktop, which is why I have a desktop tile set up. Heck, I even like the Start Menu, but I can make-due without, really.

 

[Gahars]

Well, if you want to try and get the gamers on board, this is one way to do it.

I do think a lot of this Windows hate (or Windows H8 if you like) is misguided. While I could understand being upset about the more closed nature of the OS, most complaints I've seen center around the Metro design... which is something you can easily change anyway.

 

[Foxi4]

Some food for thought...

Spoiler

And yes, I know you can put icons on the taskbar. You can put icons on the Metro UI as well, so that's not an advantage.

 

[Ikki]

Some food for thought...

Spoiler

And yes, I know you can put icons on the taskbar. You can put icons on the Metro UI as well, so that's not an advantage.

You basically said your post doesn't matter with that closing statement.

 

[Foxi4]

You basically said your post doesn't matter with that closing statement.

Not really - the taskbar is not the size of the entire screen, nor can you divide it into changable tabs.

If anything, I said (well, implied) that Metro does the same job the Start Menu did and more.

 

[Ikki]

Not really - the taskbar is not the size of the entire screen, nor can you divide it into changable tabs.

If anything, I said (well, implied) that Metro does the same job the Start Menu did and more.

People use the Start menu?