Is DirectX 10.1 in Vista SP1 the Last of Its Kind? DirectX 11 Next?

At this point in time, Microsoft is preparing DirectX 10.1 as an integer part of the evolution from Windows Vista to Windows Vista Service Pack 1. In this sense, as DirectX 10 was introduced concomitantly with Vista at the end of 2006 and early 2007, in concordance with the operating system's business and consumer launches, DirectX 10.1 will drop in the first quarter of 2008 simultaneously with Vista SP1. This means that approximately one year after the consumer release of Vista, SP1 will by synonymous with the evolution of DirectX from version 10 to 10.1. But at the same time, DirectX 10.1 could very well be the last one of its kind.

According to Xbitlabs, citing as source the ATI/AMD head of developer relations, DirectX 10.1 will be the first and final update for DirectX 10. The source within AMD's graphics group indicated that Microsoft plans to deliver no more updates to DirectX 10, beyond the evolution to DirectX 10.1 in Vista SP1. At this point in time, Microsoft has failed to either confirm or deny such a scenario. In the past, the Redmond company presented no indication that would point to such a shift in strategy, in the evolution of its DirectX suite of multimedia application programming interfaces.

Traditionally, DirectX has been the subject of numerous updates. Case in point, DirectX 9.0, for which Microsoft delivered a multitude of versions. This will not be the case for DirectX 10, as the latest build of the DirectX suite of multimedia APIs is apparently scheduled to be DirectX 10.1. Microsoft, of course, will not abandon the API, but. instead of inplementing the version number via minor superset releases, will focus directly on DirectX 11. No word at this time whether DirectX 11 will be connected with Windows 7 or with Vista, as well.