Microsoft Open-Sources DirectX Shader Compiler

[Ancurio]

Yes DX is one of their crown jewels, and in fact they are not opening DX proper (which would allow dx to run on other platforms) - they are opening a side tool for dx developers
This way, dx is a more attractive platform to work on
Otoh, it's unlikely this will help porting games *to* Linux, if anything it will help with developing them *from* Linux (or from IDEs other than visual studio, in which the community is expected to integrate the shader compiler as a tool)

That's silly. Even if they opened their DirectX codebase and it was ported, you'd still need the (windows-only) hardware drivers to do anything useful with it on other platforms (or write your own drivers).

[Nille]

What's their motive? Seriously, they stand to benefit in some way -

The Benefit is, there is no Drawback. It brings good PR and help spread there Technology.

[eydee]

What's their motive? Seriously, they stand to benefit in some way - what motive is behind this I'd like to hear from more experienced readers in the industry.

Because DX12 games suck so far, they run slower than DX11 despite the "advantages" of DX12. And MS probably thought it's time to show devs what they're writing shaders for.

[nomadewolf]

Capturing developer goodwill? As far as I can see, Vulkan is pretty much on par with DX12, but is cross platform. In a world where multi-platform titles are the norm, that's a pretty compelling advantage for Vulkan.
Also (and this is probably just wishful thinking on my part), Microsoft may have realized there's no advantage to be had from keep these pieces of code secret.

The thing is, either they make DX12 multi-patform or it's just too little...

[nomadewolf]

Sounds a bit too good to be true... But even if it is, I'm all for it.

I think I might be glimpsing their goal though: Open Source HLSL = Everyone stops bothering with GLSL and just use HLSL and HLSL -> Spir-V. As dependency on HLSL grows and grows, they'll start adding proprietary features to this compiler, and then at some point they will close the source again for another version of the compiler. Or just EEE for short. If this ain't along the lines of what they want then I'll be surprised. But they're sure underestimating us if they think the last E will be that easy.

And when they do, a million forks appear.
You cannot defeat Hydra!!!

[bug77]

The thing is, either they make DX12 multi-patform or it's just too little...

They won't so that. DX is what keeps developers corralled into the Win/Xbox ecosystems, they'll never give this up.

[nomadewolf]

They won't so that. DX is what keeps developers corralled into the Win/Xbox ecosystems, they'll never give this up.

Yup.
That's why i think this (although a nice gesture) is almost useless.

[arakan94]

"This shader compiler is open-source under the MIT license."

this just means that no one can use it because of Patents -...

How so?

"Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software"

License says that everyone can do everything.. without restriction..

[starshipeleven]

Apart from not wanting developers to ditch DirectX for Vulkan, they are also trying to fix the "evil" image steve ballmer portrayed.

[arakan94]

Patent's do not work like this. Patents are only for companies who want to make a commercial product.

private persons in general do not need to pay for a patent.

only GBLv3 covers up patent rigth. and MIT license does not.

But it says without any restriction - that should definitely apply to patents as well.. Anyway, SW patents shouldn't even exist.