Open Gl vs. Direct-X - ATI Radeon 1300

[still just me]

I have an ATI Radeon 1300/512 card installed. When I installed and
started Google Earth, it popped up and said I was running in Open GL
mode and that it would be very slow. They suggested I choose "try
Direct X" and restart. I did that, but it came up and said "can't run
in direct-x, please choose to use Open G/L". So, I went back to Open
G/l and after another restart, it was fine.

Questions: Is my card/system running in an odd configuration or is
this just a Google Earth issue? Also, shouldn't direct-x work on a
Windows XP/SP3 machine without difficulty? My concerns are mostly
around the card being properly configured for other games... and
wondering if my config is wrong.

Thanks,

 

[still just me]

Probably a Google Earth issue. Each application uses the card in its own way
- you're not changing any system-wide setting with whatever you do to get
Google Earth running.

OK. Sounds reasonable. I was concerned that my system wide settings or
direct-x implementation might have issues.