Windows 9x architecture revealed

[Eric Gisin]

Back in April/May's WinHEC conference,
Microsoft revealed lots of information on Windows 9x (97/98).
I'm surprised the press didn't pick this up at all.
Here's a summary from my WWW page.
The next message contains a MS Word drawing object
(from www.microsoft.com/hwdev) of the Windows 9x architecture.

<H3>Windows 9x (Memphis)</H3>

Microsoft plans to release the successor to Windows 95 (Memphis) in late 97
or early 98.
This should coincide with the release of Windows NT 5 (Cairo).
Internally, Windows 9x is the completion of the new NT-kernel added in SR3.
The NT-kernel <I>subsystem</I> has led some people
to think Windows 9x is <I>NT 5 lite</I>, but this is not the case.

<H3>The new Windows I/O system and WDM</H3>

Windows 9x and NT 5 will share a common NT-derived I/O system,
built around the Windows Driver Model (WDM).
Windows NT will add PnP and ACPI to its existing I/O system.
Windows 9x will have dual I/O systems,
the old VxD system under Configuration Manager,
and an NT-kernel I/O system (sharing code with NT 5).
[I need a good name for this component]

The architecture of Windows 9x was revealed at
the "Power Managerment - OnNow" session at WinHEC 96:
<A HREF="Windows9xArch.doc">MS Word drawing object</A>.
The left side is labelled Vxd, showing the convential Windows 95
architecture.
The right side is labelled WDM, and shows three layers:
Windows NT kernel at the top,
several WDM drivers in the middle,
and HAL with ACPI at the bottom.

--
Eric Gisin, Vancouver.bc.ca -- Windows/UNIX/Internet Consulting
http://www.webhaven.com/ericg/ mailto:er...@unixg.ubc.ca