Trouble sourcing HDD (Vintage)

[strollin]

Yes, I am saying that up until Win NT, DOS was the underlying OS or kernel for all versions of Windows.

I give up. You win. You can say Win 95 and Win 98 were operating systems and I won't question it.

 

[Celery]

Strollin, I can't see why you still say that. DOS is 8 bit and Windows is 16 bit. It's a whole new ball game.

My mistake, DOS is 16 bit and Windows is 32 Bit. I see now what strollin's getting at. Windows 95 is DOS based as to support mouse and keyboard.

Yet Windows 95 is 32 bit and essentially an OS but as a crossover it had to retain some DOS support for compatibility. However it is not DOS anymore.

 

[AMD_man]

It's not about winning, I'm trying to understand what you are trying to say. I don't know why we have to be so confrotational about the whole thing.

The kernel is not the same thing as the OS. The OS can be whatever you want, so if Microsoft labeled the OS as "Windows 95" then I guess Windows 95 is an OS. What's the point in arguing that? If you wanted to ask the OP about the kernel version you could've said that.

For example, here you have a few definitions of the term:

An operating system is software that manages a computer's hardware. It also provides a basis for application programs and acts as an intermediary between the computer user and the computer hardware.

If you think about it, what is involved in acting as an intermediary between the user and the computer? It could literally be anything.

Here's another one:

Computer software can be divided roughly into two kinds: system programs, which manage the operation of the computer itself, and application programs, which perform the actual work the user wants. The most fundamental system program is the operating system, whose job is to control all the computer's resources and provide a base upon which the application programs can be written.

Again, controlling the computer's resources. What is that? Memory management? Assigning CPU time slices?

Here's something that may be of interest:

Most computer users have had some experience with an operating system, but it is difficult to pin down precisely what an operating system is. Part of the problem is that operating systems perform two basically unrelated functions, extending the machine and managing resources, and depending on who is doing the talking, you hear mostly about one function or the other.

Extending the machine could also mean anything. It could mean providing a level of abstraction to the programmer, or to the user, or to virtually anything.

Instead of trying to pin down what an OS is, why not just agree that Microsoft decided to call it's OS "Windows 95," and leave it at that?

 

[Celery]

As if it were that simple.

An OS is what it is, an operating system. It's what makes things work on a PC. As you simply put it, Microsoft says Windows 95 is an OS, therefore it's an OS despite on what it's based on.

Yes we should leave it at that.