On Thu, 18 May 2006 13:32:07 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Vista Screenshots: Sexy Way To Gobble Up CPU Power
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| If you think of graphic interfaces the first thing that pops up in
>| software engineers mind is 2D graphics. Not so with aero. The interface
>| boasts to be a 3D interface and therefore requires an insanely powerful
>| DirectX-9 compatible graphic card for overlay and transparency rendering
>| used by the new 'glass window' look of Aero.
>|
>| The decision to resort to DirectX-assisted 3D rendering for something
>| so banal as displaying windows is, well, putting in mildly, stupid.
>| A first-year graduate student in computer science will tell you how
>| to achieve transparency with simple alpha-blending and much talked
>| about window cascading with simple two-dimensional rotation matrix.
>| So why Vista requires Pixel Shaders and 128MB of graphics memory
>| eludes me.
> `----
>
> If you ask somebody who has used XGL, or even X.org Composite with shadows
> and animated translucency, you would agree.
>
> http://techsearch.cmp.com/blog/archives/2006/05/vista_screensho.html;jsessionid=NXV3SAEU1UJJGQSNDBOCKH0CJUMEKJVN?loc=software_and_web_development
Huh?
XGL is also using the 3D card for such things. How could you be agreeing?
Compositing is not a "simple" task, nor is alpha blending. Windows has
been doing this for 7 years, but it sucks up a ton of CPU. The whole point
is to offload that task the *G*PU, freeing the CPU for other tasks.
Aero *REDUCES* CPU usage, not increase it.
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