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Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems?

(devblogs.microsoft.com)
304 points mooreds | 1 comments | 17 Nov 24 19:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.215s | source
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jmclnx ◴[17 Nov 24 20:19 UTC] No.42166830[source]▶
I never thought of Windows 3.1 as an OS. The other 2 was MS-DOS and Windows 95.
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rusk ◴[17 Nov 24 21:05 UTC] No.42167247[source]▶
Agree, the terminology in those days was “shell”.

Though Windows 95 was arguably similar running atop “DOS 7” it actually imposes its own 32-bit environment with its own “protected mode” drivers once booted. Dropping to DOS reverted to “real mode”.

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1. Hilift ◴[17 Nov 24 22:52 UTC] No.42168096[source]▶
Another competitor shell at the time was "WordPerfect Office for DOS". Which I witnessed some people launch from Windows 3.11. I believe it had WordPerfect and what preceded GroupWise for email. https://mendelson.org/wpdos/shell.html