[Gizmo]

Sorry, you're right.

WMI pulls its information from a large number of sources. Much of the performance data comes from the performance registry. It also gets data via SNMP and the Event Log, as well as drivers that conform to the WDM driver model and support WMI directly.

Basically, WMI (which is Microsoft's implementation of the Web Based Enterprise Management standard, using the Common Information Model or CIM) is intended to pull together information from all of the previously disparate data collection systems in Windows, and provide them with a common interface, as well as providing additional data that was previously not available.

As WBEM was not part of NT4, MS provides a downloadable patch to provide the capability on NT4, and I believe there is a version for Windows98 as well. All OS versions from Windows2000 up have it already. WBEM is also implemented on Linux, Solaris, and BSD, off the top of my head (there are probably others).