The programming interface (API) for 32-bit Windows operating systems, including Windows NT, 95, 98 and 2000. When applications are written to the Win32 API, they are activating advanced functions not available from the 16-bit API (Win16).
An application written to Win32 can run in all operating systems except where there are OS-specific features that are unavailable in the others. For example, Windows NT provides security features that are not in Windows 95/98. A program written for those features in NT will not run under the other Windows versions.
When Windows 95 came out, many 32-bit functions were made available to Windows 3.1 applications with Win32s, a subset of Win32. Win32s functionality had to be added to Windows 3.1 machines, and applications that used that API generally installed the necessary Win32s DLLs. See .NET Framework 3.0.
An application written to Win32 can run in all operating systems except where there are OS-specific features that are unavailable in the others. For example, Windows NT provides security features that are not in Windows 95/98. A program written for those features in NT will not run under the other Windows versions.
When Windows 95 came out, many 32-bit functions were made available to Windows 3.1 applications with Win32s, a subset of Win32. Win32s functionality had to be added to Windows 3.1 machines, and applications that used that API generally installed the necessary Win32s DLLs. See .NET Framework 3.0.
An Application Using This API Can Be Run In Win32 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP Win32s 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP Win32c 95 Win16 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
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