The whole idea is brilliant from a marketing standpoint. Video game developers are constantly looking to utilize the latest in graphical technology to provide immersive experiences for their gamers. It’s only a matter of time before the newest and hottest titles will all require DX 10.

Consequently, this becomes the point in OS process where the sounds of “cha-ching” from cash registers everywhere come together in harmony, ultimately composing a financial opus of profitable proportions for Microsoft.

But does the exclusivity of DX10 to Vista really just boil down to cash? Or is there something we’re missing?

Microsoft developer Phil Taylor seems to think so. In his blog, he documents the company’s rationale behind the decision to develop DX10 solely for Vista, while leaving XP users out in the cold:

Given the new features in the driver model and hardware (with GPU task switching, GPU memory management and more ) all of which require kernel support – hoisting a driver layer like that on XP is rewriting it to be Vista.

At some point, the question "to serve existing customers" or "to get new customers" is a question every business has to ask itself. Given XP has had a 5+ year run it is hard to see how XP customers have a strong case they were not given good value for the money. Especially when the features in question are ones that are a rewrite of the kernel and the driver layer, and require such a hw leap. Really.

Hmm, there’s a covert message here. Microsoft is essentially saying that customers should feel grateful to have received five years of development and support for a particular operating system and should be happy to shell out the cash for the next upgrade, repeating the process ad nauseum in five year increments.

Perhaps re-writing XP’s kernel to support DX10 isn’t feasible. The technical reasons for Vista exclusivity seem valid enough.

It’s just the financial convenience of the arrangement that leaves gamers skeptical of Microsoft’s motives.

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Phone services has heated up as a focal point for Internet players. AOL will try to compete with Yahoo in getting its services onto mobile phones, and has acquired software company Wildseed to help it do that.

According to a USA Today report, Wildseed will be incorporated into AOL’s new Wireless Unit. Deals with providers of wireless handsets will get AOL software preloaded onto phones. That should help the company keep its users from straying to competitors on mobile phones.

AOL recently acquired online storage firm Xdrive, which allows users to store information on a secure, centralized platform that undergoes regular backups. That service could be the base for AOL users to place content like images or music, and retrieve them remotely from a cellphone as well as a typical desktop machine.

Wildseed CEO Eric Engstrom was the co-inventor of the DirectX game platform; he was program manager at Microsoft for DirectX. Terms of the purchase of the privately-held company were not disclosed.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.