Microsoft combines ActiveX and DirectX in unified API strategy

Microsoft this week released the first beta of DirectX 5.0 and announceda strategy to combine this suddenly mainstream multimedia API-set withActiveX, creating a single "API strategy." The goal is to free any andall multimedia developers from having to optimize their software to specific hardware. The DirectX APIs, for example, allow game developersto write sound and video routines to a single API without needing tocreate routines for specific video cards and sound cards: DirectX provides an abstraction layer and the necessary performance gains. Now,with DirectX 5.0, Microsoft hopes to bring this level of programmingrefinement to all multimedia developers, not just games developers.

DirectX has been split into two layers, or levels, of APIs. The existinglayer forms a foundation of low-level API calls and will be of interestprimarily to games and entertainment developers who wish to really tweaktheir code for speed. The new upper layer, which includes high-levelservices, adds support for various types of media streaming and is aimed atpresentation, Web, and animation creators