Computers have layers -- think of an onion..
At the base (the core) is the chip -- there are several chips, but primarily, they come down to 2 basic models
the PC chip (Intel is the biggest) and the Mac chip...
(think of cars, deisel or gasoline..the chips are that different)
the different chips require different Operating systems, (called OS) which is the next layer
DOS is an old OS, now days most PC user have Windows, but you could have Unix, Linux, or other OS's.. Mac has its own OS... and varieties there of..
(again think of a car, its not just the fuel that is different, its the whole engine)
Next layer is the Application... Netscape is an application...as is Notepad, or paint, or Word, or Excel..
(now, in car we would be talking about models -- SUV's vs. sub compacts, accessories for the car, A/C, Power steering, anti lock brakes, )
These applications can be used to create or manipulate files... Word processing files, or HTML files, or other file. these files can be considered an other layer, but files can be created at the OS Level as well, and Application are really just big files, linked together,
Next layer is something like AWAD, AWAD is a application that runs in HTML.(the analogy really doesn't hold here, but maybe a trailer? or a roof rack? an add on.. to a basic car... especailly since you need a modem to access the internet, so internet files are not on your system.
Your AWAD private messages are stored on Anu's server, not on your PC.
the pop up add that Dr Bill finds so annoying are also applications. (run by Java. Java like HTML is a set of instructions that can run on all types of operating systems.. so it doesn't matter if you have a Mac or PC, Java will work the same on both machines. )
This is all rather simplied.. but basicly correct..
Does that help?
