It was actually the reason I started using linux, to maximise the use of the resources. On win98 that machine was pretty much single task while on linux I could use command line and tui applications to play music, work on a school document with abiword or staroffice, chat with irc/ICQ/jabber while browsing with netscape/mozilla then phoenix/firebird. On windows 98 listening to mp3 on winamp audio was quickly stuttering if I was doing other stuff at the same time.