DirectX 10 - technical definition

The version of DirectX in Windows Vista. DirectX 10 combines all the DirectX APIs (DirectDraw, Direct3D, etc.) under one umbrella. In order to enhance its speed, DirectX 10 is not backward compatible, which means that DirectX 10 games cannot run in systems with DirectX 9 and earlier display adapters. However, using an emulation layer, DirectX 10 adapters can run DirectX 9 and earlier applications. Formerly known as "Windows Graphics Foundation" (WGF), DirectX 10 includes support for shaders. See DirectX and vertex shader.