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Windows NT 3.x had graphics and printer drivers in user-mode for stability reasons. Windows NT 4 moved them to Ring 0 to speed-up graphics applications.

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Then almost immediately took them back out after realizing this was a bad idea

I presume this reversal happened during NT's main support window?

Well, by "immediate" they mean: "was user space through Win2k, went to kernel space in XP to match 9x performance, reversed in Vista".

So...one generation, and about 7 years later.

They were moved into kernel space in NT 4.

Right.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5468462

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