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DirectX

Microsoft's DirectX is a standardized programming interface handling input and output jobs for Windows software, especially games. Early PC games struggled with driver issues and non-standard ways to address hardware. For instance, a game's sound system had to be specially written for each sound card the program would support. Matters started to come to a head when 3D accelerators started to gain popularity, but didn't share a common interface, requiring games to be tailor-made for each card. DirectX, first released in 1995, provides a standard way for games to use hardware, where any device with DirectX drivers can be accessed by DirectX-compliant software.

As Microsoft adds new features to the interface, it updates the DirectX version number. Consumers can look at a package that requires a DirectX 9 video card and quickly know whether or not their card will be supported based on its DirectX version. The latest incarnation, DirectX 10, only runs on the Vista operating system.

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