>I know it runs against Windows UI, but the client has thousands of users and wants the system to keep behaving the way it used to in DOS. End of discussion, unfortunately.

I've run into clients like that. Fortunately, I've always been able to get them to see things differently. In your case he may not be able to get what he wants. While I try to follow the old adage "The customer is always right", I've found it isn't always right.