Microsoft Corp announced the beta version of its Direct X 6.0 software development kit at the Computer Game Developers Conference in Long Beach, California yesterday, hoping to introduce it in time for the 1998 holiday season. DirectX 6.0 is the latest version of Microsoft’s collection of multimedia application programming interfaces designed to make Windows a viable platform for games developers. DirectX 6.0 is said to be more stable, reliable and more consistent across APIs than earlier versions, and supports such things as DVD playback, better audio, multi-monitor support and the Universal Serial Bus. Microsoft has struck up development agreements with various chip manufacturers so that DirectX supports multiple graphics hardware. It consists of two parts: the low-level foundation layer, which includes DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectInput and the new DirectMusic API; and DirectX media layer for high level media integration services. Microsoft says its own research shows that there are over 50 million PCs installed that now support 3D hardware accelerators. DirectX is to be integrated into Windows 98 and NT 5.0 operating systems. The beta version is free to qualified developers, and the final version is expected to ship in July.
