New DirectX releases are available for download, tailored to the latest versions of the Windows server and client operating systems including Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Microsoft is continually hammering away at the graphics technology included in its platforms, and the June 2008 releases are just the latest versions of DirectX 9.0 and DirectX 10.1. Three updated items are up for grabs: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer, DirectX Software Development Kit and DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2008) all dropped at the end of the past week.

"The Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX - the core Windows technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC," Microsoft revealed. "Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs."

The DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer is designed with support for Vista SP1 and XP SP3, as well as for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Home Server, and even older operating systems starting with Windows 98, both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. Just as the Runtime Web Installer, the DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2008) also brings to the table all the previous available DirectX releases, with the sole difference that this package is addressed at developers and is set up for integration into third-party products. In this context, the DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2008) comes not only in English but also in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian and Swedish. The support is the same as for the Web Installer version.

The June 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit complements the Runtimes downloads, with improvements for versions 9.0, 10 and 10.1. According to Microsoft, the June 2008 DirectX SDK delivers stability, performance and usage enhancements to PIX for Windows, but also to Direct3D 9.0, 10 and 10.1, additional Bitrate options for xWMA Audio Compression and a new xAPO Effects Library.

The DirectX Software Development Kit June 2008 can be downloaded from here.
The DirectX Redistributable 9.0c June 2008 is available for download here.
The DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer can be grabbed here.