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whluk

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Most Powerful Graphics Lib

Hi all,
   As being said, can you tell me which is the most powerful graphics library in the market place right now?
for DOS and Windows? or either.

Jacky
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jstolan

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>> DIrectX 5.0 is the most powerful for Windows Game applications.
There is a large number of people who swear by OpenGL.  It is an open multiplatform standard not controlled by microsoft.

>> Almost all new games use it.
This does not make it the most powerful library.
Almost all new programs are written for Win95.  Does that make it the "most powerful" operating system?  (Hint: no.)
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jstolan

>>There is a large number of people who swear by OpenGL
There are a large number of people who swear by OS/2.  Does THAT make it the "most powerful" operating system?  I'd give you a hint, but I think you know the answer.

>>Almost all new programs are written for Win95...
In fact I would say almost all new programs are written for 32 bit Windows, which includes Win95 and WinNT (also Win98, but who cares).  I think I could argue that 32 bit Windows is the most powerful operating system.  The marketplace (which is the only thing that matters) certainly would support that argument.  I know almost all of my new business is writing programs for NT.

The "most powerful" description can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  You can also get into religious wars.  Some people would avoid DirectX simply because it was written by Microsoft.

To my way of thinking, most powerful is a measure of how easy it is to do the task I need.  For most high end graphics applications DirectX will blow away OpenGL.  In addition, you get the added bonus of DirectSound and DirectConnect.  Plus, you don't have to worry about whether you have a compatible graphics card (everybody supports DirectX).  The only reason I could see for going to anything other than DirectX is if the user needs to support a non-windows operating system.