What does it mean when it says:

[ucGrad]

What does it mean when someone says: this program "runs on top of Windows" ... ?

Does it mean something simple like: Windows is running and I start up a program like MS Word and therefore MS Word is "running on top of Windows"? I think it refers to something such as the Java Runtime Environment, but I really can't explain how or why. Can someone please clarify this for me?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mikecel79]

Yes it would mean it needs Windows to run. Like Word or Excel needs Windows to be running in order for it to work. Windows provides the foundation for applications to run on top of. Java would be the same way for the most part.

 

[ucGrad]

Is there something different like... "runs with Windows" instead of "on top of Windows" ? The reason I ask is because someone told me that the application that I'm running would cause latency if I ran it 'on top of Windows'.... and I'm questioning, is there any other way a program can run?

 

[mikecel79]

No they would be the same thing. It's just different wording. What is the application you are talking about?

 

[spyordie007]

It was sort of that way back in the 9.x days. Windows ran on top of DOS but if you ran the DOS application within windows (without restarting into DOS) the application would be runing ontop of windows running ontop of DOS...

Either that or the application could run directly on the hardware (i.e. boot CD).

Most likely they dont know what they are talking about and they are hoping you dont either.

-Erik