"DirectX 9.0 L is simply a renamed and refurbished DirectX 10 for Windows XP. It will make DirectX 10 games to work on Windows XP." http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35110If this is true it would simplify things for XP users. Bill Leaming said this a long time ago and I was never able to confirm it. How'd you know that Bill?

This is lies, all. DX9L is for making DX9 games compatible with vista, not for making DX10 games run on winxp. MS has stated from the beginning that DX10 is for vista only. The inquirer dropped the ball on this one and they should be flogged for it...

You really ought to take stuff on the 'Inquirer' with a REALLY big grain of salt.Basically before you believe ANYTHING you read on theinquirer.net you sure verify the info in at least 2 other places that don't point back to the Inquirer itself.They have worse 'intelligence' than the CIA! *:-*

Note that the Inquirer has retracted and corrected their evaluation and agrees that DirectX 9.0L is only for VistaRTHhttp://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35140

We've covered this in detail in the correct forum - the HARDWARE forum. Misinformation like this helps no-one.Basically, Vista should be on the upgrade path for anyone who ever hopes to get sparkling performance from FSX. But no-one has demonstrated that `sparkling` performance yet, either under Vista with DX9 or Vista with DX10. The performance will come at major cost (no surprise there then) and there are major doubts about the licensing and activation policy of Vista that directly impacts on the ability of the user to actually do the upgrades and still keep a working copy of Windows. See other threads for details.In the meantime, FSX is designed as a DX9 game, so the appearance of Vista does NOT, repeat NOT, imply any performance increase whatsoever for FSX until the DX10 patch is issued. Which explains the interest in having the claims about `improved` FSX performance under Vista being proven. DX9.0L is a refined, dedicated version of the DX9 API specifically for Vista, but as Vista draws more resources than any previous OS just to run itself, I really cant see how FSX can run better under Vista, on the same hardware. But I'd like to be convinced!Allcott