Of course you can create transparency in W9x. Just grab the background, mix it with the intended foreground, and write it back. The problem is that it's not done by the OS. So there is no easy and/or elegant way to let the background be updated. As far as the OS knows, it's covered, so it won't update it. When you put your transparent Opera over a clock or so, I suppose it will stop in w9x, while it will keep on running in W2K+.