It has been stated several times that DirectX 8 and the DirectX 8 SCREEN SAVER LIBRARIES which Jim is supposed to use are two entirely different things.
DirectX 8 is compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME.
DirectX 8 screen saver libraries (unless you want Jim to write the screen saver in DirectX 7) are NOT.
From the
Frequently Asked Questions guide (which pops up every time you visit this forum from my website):
"Jim Sachs spent 2 months writing a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium to be licensed to Microsoft for inclusion on OEM Windows XP computers and in the Microsoft XP Plus pack.
The other goal of this rewrite was to move the Aquarium over to DirectX 8. Due to serious bugs in the DirectX 8 screen saver libraries provided by Microsoft when running on Windows 95, 98, and ME, Jim has had to abandon all plans for a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium. The DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium, when run in Windows 95/98/ME, has problems with the password and settings screens in addition to instability. Microsoft acknowledges the problem but has no plans to fix it, dedicating themselves solely to Windows XP. Jim does not have the time or resources to write and maintain 2 versions of the Aquarium, one for 95/98/ME and one for 2000/XP."