Something about that doesn’t sound right. WinXP is NT-based; Win98 is MSDOS-based. They are completely different, and largely incompatible systems. Programs that ran on one could not, by definition, run on the other, if they actually used operating system functions.
So I’ve got a question for you, but let me explain why I ask.
It was a difficult undertaking to run Win98 programs on WinXP, but because that was the upgrade path, Microsoft and software manufacturers went to great lengths to convert Win98 software to run on WinXP.
There was no market pressure or motivation to make WinXP programs run on Win98, and I’m unaware of anybody doing so — for programs that actually used the operating system functions.
If on the other hand a program was a set of interpreted scripts (batch files, BASIC programs, etc.), and ran with an interpreter (i.e. the program didn’t use the operating system functions directly), then it could run on either operating system as long as there was an interpreter.
So, what were the WinXP programs you ran on Win98? I’m not calling you out on it, mind you — but my technical curiosity has gotten the best of me and I’d love to know. :-)
The programs were basic word processing and spreadsheet programs, not anything complicated; oh, and Visio, before it was acquired by MS, and a database app called “Alpha......(something or other), and a data charting app. I have never been a gamer nor was ever into getting “free” music and stuff off the Internet, nor doing much with photoshop type stuff. My work has always been mostly text and data related, not concerned very much with high end graphics or sound stuff.