Microsoft Quietly Updates DirectX 8.1

Although not yet officially announced, Microsoft has issued a maintenance update for DirectX, brining the latest version number to 8.1b. DirectX 8.1b incorporates a few critical fixes over its predecessor, most notably in DirectShow and Direct3D. DirectX is Microsoft's suite of application programming interfaces used by developers to take full advantage of Windows' multimedia capabilities.

In a post to the MSDN DirectX newsgroup, product manager Phil Taylor attributed the delay in announcing the update to "an artifact of the release process here at MS. We have to release the download on the download server before we can get an MSDN page on it."

Runtime downloads are now available for Windows 98, Me and Windows 2000. Windows XP users must wait for the update, which will be included in the upcoming Service Pack 1 download later this summer. Because it updates core system components, DirectX 8.1b cannot be uninstalled without reinstalling Windows.

Microsoft is currently beta testing DirectX 9.0, the next-generation DirectX technology that will make its way into future versions of Windows and take advantage of the latest graphics hardware. Presently at Beta 1, DirectX 9.0 is expected to ship this fall.