I don't remember when we transitioned to 32 bit DOS extenders for the DOS compilers, but we never got any pushback for that. Developers all used 386 computers.

I remember attending a compile panel at one of the SDWest conferences. The panel members were myself, representing Zortech, along with representatives from Borland, Watcom, and Microsoft.

The first question was "do you sell a version that will work on a floppy disk only computer?" One of the other panelists responded with yes, we do. He went on to describe how the various bits could be distributed among multiple floppies, and of course it involved a lot of shuffling floppies in and out.

I was next. I replied, "Yes, we have a version that does it! It costs $200 extra and comes with a hard disk drive!"

That got a huge laugh, and that was the end of that question. I never heard it again from anybody. Sometimes, it's just time to move on!

Historically there were 24-bit ("16 megs") DOS extenders that would work on a 286, though the 286's inability to seamlessly go back to real mode (which is needed for compatibility with BIOS routines) creates issues that make 286 protected mode a bit of a theoretical curiosity.

That was a very intelligent answer.

I was trying to come up with some advantage of Zortech C that might justify using it now instead of an open-source compiler like DJGPP under some circumstance. Any ideas?