> On the other hand, what Windows didn't yet support in this era was DirectDraw — i.e. the ability of an app to reserve a part of the screen buffer to draw on itself (or to "run fullscreen" where Windows itself releases its screen-buffer entirely.) Windows apps were windowed apps; and the only way to draw into those windows was to tell Windows GDI to draw for you.

> This gave developers of this era three options, if they wanted to create a graphical app or game that did something "fancy":

> 1. Make it a DOS app.

This vaguely reminds me of WinG[0][1] - the precursor to DirectDraw. It existed only briefly ~ 1994-95.

My vague "understanding" of it was to make DOS games easier to port to Windows. They'd do "quick game graphics stuff" on Device Independent Bitmaps, and WinG would take care of the hardware details.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinG

[1] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/programming/a-whirlwind-tour-o...