[gameprogrammer] Re: RES: Re: RES: RES: Re: RES: Re: DirectX Line and Triangle

On Thursday 17 July 2008, Yasser wrote:
> Why you use DirectX instead OpenGL?. There is something that have
> DirectX and OpenGL not have?

Well, a significant number of Windows systems do not have proper 
OpenGL support... Your average user doesn't even know what a "driver" 
is, and certainly doesn't understand why random games want you to 
install some "driver", while other games work fine anyway.

Then there is Xbox. I'm not even sure if you *can* install OpenGL on 
that, without hacking it. Not exactly my area of expertise.

So, as developers, we either support Direct3D(/DirectGraphics), or we 
lose users. Either way, M$ wins. (That is, they have us use Direct3D, 
making it harder and more expensive for us to support non-Windows 
platforms.)

Our only option, if we want proper support for all relevant platforms, 
is to support *both* OpenGL and Direct3D - but as it is, that's an 
extra cost that many developers certainly don't need.


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

.-------  http://olofson.net - Games, SDL examples  -------.
|        http://zeespace.net - 2.5D rendering engine       |
|       http://audiality.org - Music/audio engine          |
|     http://eel.olofson.net - Real time scripting         |
'--  http://www.reologica.se - Rheology instrumentation  --'

---------------------
To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html

Other related posts: