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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.
replies(2): >>42167247 #>>42168397 #
1. ndiddy ◴[17 Nov 24 23:47 UTC] No.42168397[source]▶
Windows 3.1 is basically 95% of an OS. When you're booted into Windows 3.1, MS-DOS is only used to run MS-DOS software and to handle filesystem access. Windows 3.1 controls the processes, memory, video card, system timer, keyboard, mouse, printer, etc. (pretty much every system resource besides disk I/O) while it's running.