Thing is that before Windows this was the case. The sound card had its own Midi and sound effects chips, for example. Now reduced to one chip if that on the A

Thing is that before Windows this was the case. The sound card had its own Midi and sound effects chips, for example. Now reduced to one chip if that on the AC97 capable motherboard. The modems had their own discrete processor to handle the communication over the phone line. Now again reduced to a WinModem chip and/or a NIC or WiFi chip.