In October, Microsoft has updated its DirectX offerings for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. The new downloads involve both the DirectX Software Development Kit and the DirectX End-User Runtimes (November 2007). But while the DirectX End-User Runtimes are quite mundane, the same is no longer the case for the DirectX SDK. Back at the end of July 2007, Microsoft announced that it was modifying the release schedule of the SDK pacing it at just four times per year. Thus, developers have had to deal with the July release of the DirectX Software Development Kit. But as the new launch timetable kicked in place as of August 2007, the end of October also brings an update for the DirectX Runtime and all DirectX software, namely the DirectX SDK. The software development kit updates with each new version the tools, utilities, samples, documentation, and runtime debug files contained, set in place to enable third-party developers to build DirectX content in C/C++ and C#.

"XAPO is a new DSP plug-in model. Using XAPO,developers can write and use their own DSP effect in XAudio2 applications. XAudio2 now supports ADPCM on Windows. In addition, the ADPCM encoder tool, adpcmencode.exe, enables creation of ADPCM content. XAudio2 source voices can now run without source data. This is useful for oscillator modeling or other generative audio effects. The AdvancedParticles sample shows a particle system that interacts with its environment. The system is managed entirely by the GPU. The GPUBoids sample shows a flocking algorithm managed entirely by the GPU. The NBodyGravity sample shows an n-body particle system managed entirely by the GPU.
The XAudio2BasicSound sample demonstrates how to initialize the XAudio2 library and play a variety of sounds files. The XAudio2Sound3D sample demonstrates how to use XAudio2 with the X3DAudio library for spatialized audio," Microsoft revealed.

Microsoft informed that support for Visual Studio 2008 will be added in the next release of the DirectX SDK planned for March 2008. According to the Redmond company, concomitantly with the introduction of support for Visual Studio 2008, VS 2003 will be dropped entirely. Developers will of course still have the option of using Visual Studio 2005 in tandem with the March 2008 version of the DirectX Software Development Kit. October additionally brings to the table a fresh release of DirectX End-User Runtimes. The Runtimes offers nothing more than the DirectX end-user redistributable designed to be integrated into third-party software products.