Windows 95 and 98 worked pretty well with alternative shells. I think originally the option was there just so users could run the classic 3.x shell (progman.exe

Windows 95 and 98 worked pretty well with alternative shells. I think originally the option was there just so users could run the classic 3.x shell (progman.exe I think it was called) but it was pretty trivial to write you own ones; as I often did when I was bored. You couldn't do much to change the title bars et al though.