DirectX 9 Final Released

Warp2Search say Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Final Released:

“Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX 9.0 includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX 9.0 APIs.“

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP

DirectX 9.0 End-User Runtime setup minimizes the download size but requires an internet connection during setup. The DirectX 9.0 Redist is available for download for those users that do not have an internet connection available during installation or Setup has trouble connecting to the Microsoft server.

The DirectX 9.0 runtime cannot be uninstalled. We recommend Windows Millennium and XP users create a “System Restore” point before installing. For information on creating a restore point, please refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

Windows Millennium Edition: Microsoft Knowledge Base article 267951.
Windows XP: Microsoft Knowledge Base article 310405.

Get the DirectX 9 download links @ Warp2Search

Meanwhile The Inquirer says :

There’s a download available at the Betanews site, and here’s the direct Microsoft link.

Betanews has already had a bash at reviewing it, which you can find on the same page as above.

Be careful! You cannot un-install this without re-installing Windows, and with XP this might not be as easy it could be. You could always roll back to a version of XP without DirectX 9 — in face we’ve had to do this following some “critical updates” earlier this month. Sheesh.

Also remember that few hardware products support DirectX 9, yet.

A source close to Microsoft’s plans said that the download is really still a beta release candidate and not even RC1, and there will be more releases in the coming months.

That means, he said, that by then ATI will not have the only card that supports DX9 and that the driver support for this release is very very minimal.

Microsoft DirectX 9.0 released, but it’s far from ready @ theinquirer.net