Microsoft will ditch the name DirectX - apparently - when it releases the new generation of the technology (apparently very soon.) Microsoft has decided to call it WGF (Windows Graphic Foundation).
The API will unite 2D and 3D Direct Draw into one. This will go some way into providing support for graphics cards to generate the desktop (as well as 3D games), which is intended for Longhorn and may even be with us before then for XP. It will also bring us Shader Model 4.0.