It is not surprising that companies want to name their product or technology "DirectUI", popularized by Microsoft Messenger, Windows XP, Office, IE and Windows Media Player. However, there are other old names that can be used to describe behavior, for example, without windows and code, which can be seen in other mature, well-tested user interface components.
There are many user interface interfaces from Microsoft, such as WPF, Silverlight, Windows Forms, MFC, and ATL. In various access and automation access documents and job advertisements, DirectUI has equal status with Windows Forms, WPF, and Silverlight. However, it looks like Microsoft’s DirectUI library will not be used by third-party developers, given how many changes are made to each version of DUI.dll and DUser.dll. (Update: Windows 8 opens the door for DirectUI for programmers)
There are third-party users who advertise very different products under the DirectUI name from Nokia Meego Touch to various class libraries based on GDI, which are even finished and should not be branded "DirectUI". However, DirectX programmers are more likely to choose DirectX for performance and use high-tech game engines instead of having the overhead of a UI class library. In the area of business products, WPF, Silverlight, and the IE trident engine are used for windowless programming code, but GDI-based MFC-based windows can work just fine, as the attractive interface is not a selling point for business users. Think of the visual studio product as an example, how many programmers would pay more for 3D animation, or even think about downloading themes free of charge?
Sheng Jiang 蒋 晟
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