Can I run real-time data acquisition applications in Windows?

Can I run real-time data acquisition applications in Windows?

Real time is relative to every user and its requirements vary with the applications. In some applications, users consider 100ms response time real time; in other settings, a 1µs response time is necessary to accommodate their real time applications. In general, Windows (95/98/NT/2000) is not well suited for deterministic real-time applications because it does not have deterministic timing. Windows is a general-purpose operating system where many tasks and services run in the background without the user's control. These tasks use up CPU clocks and Interrupt requests and share system resources with your application. Real-time applications work better on dedicated operating systems running on embedded processors, such as the Keithley ADwin Series products. Some users are actually still using DOS because of its superior performance in some real-time applications designed around it. While some operating systems are more optimized than others in certain aspects, most often they represent a balance involving compromises between flexibility, functionality, ease of use, robustness, and reliability.