There were publications in the 80s that used that term iirc, and I do recall the term for how slightly incongruous it was, and how it didn't come with an explan

There were publications in the 80s that used that term iirc, and I do recall the term for how slightly incongruous it was, and how it didn't come with an explanation. In looking into ut some more, it looks like the executive was a term from mainframes for the layer of the kernel that enforced isolation, but I must have read the term being loosely used in pc magazines. Or maybe mockingly?