[feldon34]

Before DirectX, every sound and video card required separate code and modules to work. If I were writing a PC game in 1995 (in DOS of course), I would have to write code to support CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA, Tandy graphics, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, Gravis Ultrasound, Tandy 3 channel sound, etc.

DirectX is an effort to make developer's lives easy by having one reference platform to develop for. Instead of the developer having to buy one of each video and sound card (they really had to do this!), they can just write for one platform.

But of course DirectX failed in two places.

#1 Not strict enough about how cards are supposed to handle things. Recent 3dfx Voodoo drivers simply won't accept compressed textures the "officially published way" (which is how Jim is sending them). There's just a lot of issues where different cards do their own thing.

#2 Not open-source. Microsoft hates open source because they don't have complete control over the code and the money. But in the case of DirectX, it really won't be the best until they open it up and stop keeping the libraries a secret.