From a better article (http://ventspace.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/directxxna-phase-o...):

This email was sent out to DirectX/XNA MVPs today:

  The XNA/DirectX expertise was created to recognize 
  community leaders who focused on XNA Game Studio and/or
  DirectX development. Presently the XNA Game Studio is not in
  active development and DirectX is no longer evolving as a 
  technology. Given the status within each technology, further
  value and engagement cannot be offered to the MVP community. 
  As a result, effective April 1, 2014 XNA/DirectX will be
  fully retired from the MVP Award Program.

There’s actually a fair bit of information packed in there, and I think some of it is poorly worded. The most stunning part of it was this: “DirectX is no longer evolving as a technology.” That is a phrase I did not expect to hear from Microsoft. Before going to “the sky is falling” proclamations, I don’t think this is a death sentence for DirectX, per se. It conveys two things. Number one, DirectX outside of Direct3D is completely dead. I hope this is not a shock to you. Number two, it’s a reminder that Direct3D has been absorbed into Windows core, and thus is no more a “technology” than GDI or Winsock.