DirectX from Microsoft is a set of API (Application Programming Interfaces) that is meant to handle multimedia tasks such as audio, video and games. It consists of several different components namely Direct3D, DirectPlay, DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectSound3D, DirectMusic, etc., each catering to a set of functions in a dedicated manner. Today DirectX is ubiquitous - if you have Windows, it has DirectX. DirectX had its humble beginnings, and in this article we will see how it rose to the position it is enjoying today

 

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Prior to the development of DirectX, Microsoft used to rely on OpenGL for 3D graphics related tasks and bundled it along with Windows NT. While OpenGL was for "high-end" applications and hardware, Microsoft wanted to design a lightweight alternative so that the general PC user could make use of at least some of the functions found in OpenGL.

It all began in 1994, when Microsoft was readying to launch its new operating system Windows 95, which was radically different from its previous OSes. During that time, the success of an OS would depend on what applications would run on it. When the OS was shown to developers (game developers in general), they were not very optimistic about the prospect of running games in this new OS. They felt that MS-DOS was a better gaming platform since it was lighter on resources and allowed direct access to the gaming hardware. Windows 95 on the other hand did not allow direct access to hardware due to its protected memory model.


Something had to be done to alleviate the situation, especially since the clock was ticking for the new OS's launch. Development lead Craig Eisler, Alex St. John and program manager Eric Engstrom worked round the clock to find a fix and finally arrived at an API that allowed just what was needed. The new API allowed direct access to low-level features of computer hardware and since it was a collection of APIs starting with the word "Direct", it was named DirectX.


During this era, consoles were considered as the only viable platforms for gaming and DirectX on the PC was a serious challenge to the world of console gaming. The programmers toiled to get the beta ready for Computer Game Developers Conference (CGDC) in April 1995. The situation was so tight that the API CDs arrived literally a couple of hours before the presentation was to begin on stage. Video card makers in general loved it and that was what Microsoft needed.

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