Thane_Bitter Yes it was nice being able to pole hardware directly without the OS knowing about it but it became a massive security issue.
In almost any operating system of that type, the O.S. definitely “knew” what was being done with the hardware and accesses to random memory locations. Win9x was in full control; the O.S. and (well-designed) drivers were designed to allow most of those, subject to verification and virtualisation, so as not to completely rupture compatibility with the past. When you really think about it, the level of compatibility that Microsoft was able to offer was impressive for the time.
It wasn’t really direct interaction with the hardware, but went through a few levels of software, usually including at least one device-specific driver, before ever being able to reach the hardware. At any point, this access could be prevented or deemed invalid, and was the source of some of the numerous BSODs (especially from bad drivers; eternal shame on Creative Labs for their contributions to this).
Thane_Bitter it seems like the win95 era was more of a misstep rather than real innovation
It absolutely wasn’t; Microsoft knew where they wanted to go (pun intended). Unlike Apple, Windows 9x made for a rather smooth transition from what was (DOS and direct hardware access) to what was to come (a more secured, modern O.S. that completely insulated applications from the hardware). In the process, it introduced the masses to computers; made Internet access a common, accepted part of our lives; and added untold billions to Microsoft’s coffers. If that’s a mistake, I wouldn’t mind making a few mistakes that put that much money in my pockets!
Contrast that with Apple. They had multiple very expensive failures in trying to bring their system into the modern age. When they finally unveiled what would become the future of their platform (again significantly late and over-budget), compatibility was rather poor, performance was terrible on most hardware, stability was mediocre and it was a radical departure from what System and Mac OS had been. Add to this the fact that it lacked critical applications, and you see why even many Mac loyalists rejected it for years, until there was no choice. Some of them even (gasp!) jumped ship to Win9x, Windows 2K and Windows XP.
