I agree with some of what Steve is saying, but one must remember that with
Windows 3.1, DOS still existed since Windows ran on top of it, and still
retained control over the devices with 16 bit drivers.  Just go ahead and
see if Windows would work properly if your config.sys or autoexec.bat was
screwed up.  In Windows 95, the biggest support and stability issue deals
with getting and installing 32 bit drivers, the protected mode kind.  All
these drivers originated with and because of Windows 95.  The only thing
which was 32 bit protected mode under Windows 3.1 was the disk and file
access, something to which I referred in my original post.  The breakaway
from DOS had indeed started under Windows 3.1, enhanced mode, but it was
just a tentative first step.

Actually, the documentation for Windows 3.1 referred to the 32 bit disk and
file access, as the big performance gain.  It was not very dependable in
many cases and created some problems.

I debated making the link between Windows 3.1 with 32 bit access and an
almost completely CM MPE with only a very small portion, the disk access,
in native mode.  I elected to use the one I did, because of the problems
with 32 bit disk and file access in 3.1 and the fact a lot of people had it
turned off, or did not even know about and thus never turned it on.

So, I must disagree with Steve's opening statement, and stand by my
original statements.

Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP America, Inc.
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 355-6879
[log in to unmask]                             www.hicomp.com



-----Original Message-----
From:   Steve Dirickson b894 WestWin [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Monday, November 10, 1997 11:07 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Denys, Windows, and Macs (was: Nomin

<<Now for Alfredo.  He states that Windows 95 is built on top of DOS.  He
is
wrong.

Windows 95 is not really built on top of DOS.  Windows 3.X was built on
286
architecture and ran on top of DOS.  DOS had full control of the
hardware.
 The drivers were all written in 16 bit code and ran under DOS.  Windows
3.x used the DOS kernel and could barely do a form of multitasking known
as
cooperative multitasking, just like Macintosh computers still do.  The
enhanced mode of Windows introduced some virtual drivers, but the device
drivers were still under the control of DOS.  This is why you had coplex
autoexec.bat and config.sys files.  (Think of the 286 with DOS as MPE V/R
running on classic machines.  Think of Windows 3.x enhanced as MPE V/E
running on 70s.)>>


For what it's worth, the above is essentially 100% wrong-unless you
change the "Windows 3.X" to "Windows 2.X". Then it's mostly correct.
Which does little to change Denys' point that Windows 95 is significantly
different from MS-DOS in both design and execution, despite Andrew
Schulman's somewhat strident pointing-out of the various places where
Win95 uses facilities developed under MS-DOS. But the big "break" from
DOSness happened with the 386 Enhanced mode of Windows 3.x, where Windows
took control of the hardware via the protected-mode kernel, 32-bit device
drivers, IOPM control of port I/O, and other facilities. Win95 made the
core of Windows a lot smarter and a lot more 32-bit, but the transition
from having real-mode DOS code controlling the machine and allowing the
application to run to having protected-mode Windows controlling the
machine and the hardware took place around 1991, after people saw what
Windows 3 could do and bought the hardware that could make use of the
capabilities.

Steve