14 DAY TRIAL // Developers holding their breath over a new DirectX SDK for Windows 8, might as well exhale now. Back in July 2011 I was telling you that it had been over a year since Microsoft provided the last update to the DirectX software development kit, and that this was related to the ongoing development of Windows 8.
Microsoft has since then confirmed officially that it will no longer provide developers with a standalone DirectX SDK.
The software giant did not exactly do so with a fanfare, but the information does exist, provided that devs look in the right place.
Essentially, with the launch of the Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3), the DirectX SDK has been swallowed by the official Windows SDK.
Here is the official explanation that Microsoft provided detailing this move:
“We originally created the DirectX SDK as a high-performance platform for game development on top of Windows. As DirectX technologies matured, they became relevant to a broader range of applications,” the software giant said.
“Today, ubiquity of Direct3D hardware in computers drives even traditional desktop applications to use graphics hardware acceleration. In parallel, DirectX technologies are more integrated with Windows. DirectX is today a fundamental part of Windows.”
“Because the Windows SDK is the primary developer SDK for Windows, we now ship DirectX as part of the Windows SDK. You can now use the Windows SDK to build great games for Windows.”
This means that the DirectX SDK June 2010 release for Windows 7 will remain the last update of the standalone Windows DX software development kit offered by Microsoft.
In case some of you are wondering, Windows 8 will ship with DirectX 11, just as Windows 7. I do expect some evolution from the graphics technology, but the version number will remain unchanged.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.
DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer is available for download here.
DirectX End-User Runtimes is available for download here.
DirectX Software Development Kit (SDK) is available for download here.