I have just completed an article for codeproject.com that might be of interest to FASM coders.

Although the article is based around unmanaged C++ (targetting either 32bit or 64bit editions) it also applies to ASM programming. Basically the article outlines how to get Windows Presentation Foundation style hardware accelerated graphics under Vista using the same techniques that the WPF does and in full cooperation with the Vista Desktop Window Manager. I'm glad to report that pure Win32/ASM coding is very much possible under Vista without sacrificing the new features the OS provides.

This information hasn't been provided by Microsoft so I took it upon myself to figure it out and do it for them. No doubt their rather large investment in .NET technology (read "crap") has them unwilling to promote any alternative...

Here's the link if you are interested: http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/umvistad3d.asp

At some point I will convert this over to FASM but I don't know enough about 64bit ASM yet unfortunately...

Very impressive WytRaven! Not only is the article highly interesting, but very well written. If you're interested in re-locating to the USA (Washington, DC area), I've go a position here for you.
I'm a little surprised they published the article because CodeProject is very closely associated with MS and you pretty much prove that .Net isn't the end-all solution. Very well done, indeed.

Very good article. You may think of more descriptive name for this thread, and i will highlight it if you wish.

could you please post sources here into this forum? i don't want to register on codeproject. Thanks

The source code and binaries are attached. Glad you like the article.

The binaries will only work on vista and only on vista with the aero interface enabled.

One more reason to keep avoiding .NET. I almost had to code a whole web application in asp.NET, luckily the AJAX framework I cobbled together in 3 weeks worked/looked better.

WytRaven: My first computer was an Apple][e as well !

Very good article WytRaven, thanks.

p.s. I hope your article won't get mr. Schechter fired!

Very interesting article, looks like there aero glass inteface is going to be fun to play with, now that you've proven that it is possible to use un-managed (assembly) code . Also, nice to know that gdiplus is hardware excellerated now . Unfortunately, I won't have my Vista upgrade disc for quite a while yet, so I can't try your example.

According to this, Vista Home Basic doesn't support Fancy Aero "Glass" UI. (Just FYI for anyone here so they don't run out and buy the wrong upgrade!)

P.S. My first computer was an Apple IIc (green screen), but we had IIe to play with at school.

Unfortunately no. GDI+ itself remains software only. What I meant was that the WPF provides GDI+ functionality with hardware acceleration. So that means if you want a prebuilt library of GDI+ functions then .NET and WPF is you only answer. However if you are willing to put in a little effort then you can use Direct3D (which the WPF does under the hood) to do everything that GDI+ could plus so much more.