a shell is a human interface to the os from which you can execute other programs. command.com is a shell. win32's user.exe is technically a shell. command.com can be executed via telnet on win32. even bash/sh/csh et al can run through telnet/ssh on win32. so stop talking about stuff you obviously know nothing about.
OooOOooOO I bow down to your superior intelect in this field I was simply trying to simplify it for the person I whose question I was answering, If I had said everything you just did to me, they would have been lost
there is a big difference between simplifying and supplying completely incorrect information. the concept is a very simple one anyway and i don't see why anyone would have problems understanding it.