Penguin
Annotated edit history of DirectX version 3, including all changes. View license author blame.
Rev Author # Line
2 AristotlePagaltzis 1 [Microsoft]'s multimedia API. At the time of writing it is up to version 9, and although it has quite a learning curve associated with it, [DirectX] is one of those factors that makes [Windows] such a good platform for multimedia/games.
1 SamJansen 2
2 AristotlePagaltzis 3 The answer on the Linux side of things is probably SimpleDirectMediaLayer. However, nothing quite approaches the power (and complexity) of [DirectX].
4
5 In typical [Microsoft] fashion, it took about 3 iterations of the product before it was any good, then another couple until it actually started having any appeal, and finally reached a state of being truly useful around release 8.
6
3 WikiAdmin 7 Its multiplayer protocol, used by the !DirectPlay component, is actually copyrighted by MicrosoftCorporation, so games written on top of that connectivity component are almost impossible to port; at least, an [Apple]/[Unix]/[Foo] version of the game won't be able to multiplay with the [Windows] rendition.