> Actually, a Win32 process can call NT system
calls directly. It's just 
not
   encouraged :-)
 I stand corrected.
 Has this always been true? 
 
Yep, at least ever since 1991.
BTW I did a quick web search for "NtCreateFile" and found a nice page about
how to call NT calls directly at 
http://www.osr.com/insider/1996/native.htm
  I once asked MS tech support, and was told that NT
system calls couldn't
 be made from a Win32 application, because the Win32 subsystem would trap
 them and not pass them to the kernel. 
Nope, this is wrong.
- Joe