Scriptionary Blog

Here’s another amusing blog post about why one should use OpenGL instead of DirectX (not even Direct3D). Anyone who has been following my posts on OpenGL knows that ever since the release of 3.0, I have not been able to bring myself to support any of Khronos’ efforts.

Now that the 3.2 specification is out, the API seems to be headed in the right direction but I fear that it’s just too little too late. Whereas OpenGL 3.2 seems to have targeted D3D 10 feverishly, Microsoft was already working on a new iteration of Direct3D in the background. Direct3D 11 once again leaves OpenGL to play catch-up, which they will, but likely too late.

OpenGL has one thing going for it that Direct3D doesn’t: cross-platform compatibility. If you really have to develop for multiple platforms, use OpenGL. If you just develop for Windows/360, use Direct3D. It almost seems as if we’re at that great “games versus industrial application” API divide again. Any momentum that OpenGL might have gained with 2.1, it has lost with its release of 3.0.

Here’s a great article by Tom’s Hardware explaining the issues better than I ever could.

Oh and a happy new year, by the way…

Intel demoed Larrabee for the first time to the public at te IDF, according to PC Pro.

The attached screenshot is a bit underwhelming but maybe we’ll see some impressive examples soon. In any case, if the demo is at the IDF now, the public release couldn’t be far off.

Apparently, the DirectX team has had a blog since late April of this year it’s just not very popular I guess.

They’ve posted a shipload of information over the last couple of months, so if you’re like me and had no idea this existed, you’ll have quite some reading to catch up to. It’s mostly about Windows 7 and the new graphics APIs (Direct2D, DirectWrite, etc.) but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Yeah, I don’t have the DX11 logo yet…Today the August 2009 DirectX SDK was released on MSDN, strangely enough the August SDK was released in September.

This release contains the first official release of Direct3D 11 (RTM), which was previously only a technical preview. According to the release notes, this version of Direct3D 11 will only work on the RTM version of Windows 7, not on the RC and Beta versions. So I guess only vendors and MSDN subscribers will be able to develop software until Windows 7 hits the retail market.

There’s also the issue of pure Direct3D 11 hardware not being sold yet but that should be right around the corner if the SDK is here.

So today marks the first week of Windows 7 RTM usage and I have to say that I like it. As I said before, Vista’s gaming performance was sub par but it looks like Windows 7 has picked up the slack.

It simply seems like the same system performs better with Windows 7, it’s definitely not simply a Vista update/Service Pack. And I’m happy to report that Fallout 3 (for the players) works OK on Windows 7 although there is the occasional crash and Alt-Tabbing is out of the question it seems.

Another very good thing thing I’ve noticed is the lack of UAC pop-ups, the only ones I’ve seen are when I try to run downloaded software – which is the same as in Windows XP.

Maybe in the long run some quirks will show up but for now I’m a happy camper indeed.

Am I the only one who thinks that the following is absolutely insane and redundant?

From Sunbiz.org

Effective July 1, 2009, the intention to register a fictitious name must be advertised at least once in a newspaper in the county in which the principal place of business will be located. Contact your newspaper for advertising information.

Apparently, in California business owners already had to do this but it’s new in Florida. How would one go about advertising the intent?

People of Palm Beach County, ScammingBastards Inc will henceforth use the name TrustUs Inc to scam you instead.

…

Windows 7 RTM was released for MSDN subscribers today so I’m taking this chance to upgrade to Windows 7 early on. I’ve been using Vista fulltime a bit over a year now and have been a bit disappointed in the long run with its performance when it comes to gaming and other intense apps.

Although I’ve been disappointed with Vista’s gaming performance, everything else has been smooth sailing. In fact a bunch of features that are apparently introduced in Windows 7 (Start Search), were already available in Vista.

Anyway, I’ll soon find out if the Windows 7 talk is all hype or if there’s some truth to the claims I’ve been hearing.

This post is a short follow up to my previous post “Giving in”.

I stopped playing World of Warcraft two days before the 10 day trial was over, it just doesn’t have that holding grab after all. I guess for me this is due to the fact that the game is from 2004 and it just doesn’t hold together that well over such a long period. Also, the pay-to-play scheme isn’t doing it for me.

Still, the game itself, disregarding the graphics, is good if you like these type of games and have the time for it. For me, it’s back to Fallout 3 since some very nice DLC has been released.