Once Windows Sockets API was nailed down, a good TCP/IP stack was available on DOS as a system network driver. And IIRC Apple released a system service as well, as a System extension and Control Panel.
I discovered NCSA Telnet late, after it was obsolete, but it inspired me greatly. I still have not looked at the source code, but it is tucked away somewhere.
Reminds me of that era, when office computers didn't support TCP/IP at the system level: applications had to implement their own stack.
1990s-me used NCSA Telnet on the Mac every day.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCSA_Telnet
Once Windows Sockets API was nailed down, a good TCP/IP stack was available on DOS as a system network driver. And IIRC Apple released a system service as well, as a System extension and Control Panel.