cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:41:58 -0800, Fitz <akfitz@gci.net> wrote:

>I tried to install Nero 7 Ultimate (Enhanced), which claims to be Vista
>compatible. During the setup, Nero stopped install to tell me it needed
>to "upgrade" my system. The upgrade...install Direct X 9c. When I didn't
>accept, Nero stopped the install.

That's exactly what I did, too!

In fact, you can (and need to) let it "install DirectX 9 c". It won't
mess up Vista's built-in DirectX 10, as I feared, and yes; DirectX 9
is present in Vista for compatibility with older sware, and maybe
newer sware (like Nero 7) that may be written for both XP and Vista.

>So, if I accept it so that Nero will continue the install, will Vista
>recognize the attempt to overwrite a more current version of Direct X
>and prohibit it, or will Nero win out and screw up my system?

You'd be OK, if my mileage is anything to go by.

>You would think software claiming to be Vista compatible would recognize
>correct version of Direct X.

It's a bit more complicated than that - there was someone from MS who
explained the details, but basically, Vista includes both DirectX 10
(which is Vista-only) and DirectX 9c (which is current for XP).

Below those handy "DirectX n" monickers are a raft of different
subsystems, e.g. Direct3D, DirectSound, etc. and within that, all the
versions of the loose code files. In practice, when an application
uses "DirectX", it can be a combination of these.

But yes - my reaction was *exactly* the same as yours; "I wait 6
months for nero to gather their fec... er, get their act together, and
now the 'new' version wants to knock be back to the XP age? WTF?"
:-)


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Never turn your back on an installer program
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