> Is anyone still using the PC parallel port for projects these days?

Yes. There are very few choices for low cost one off things.

> I could be wrong, but it seems they aren't as functional under Windows
> as the old DOS ports were, as in fast continuous access.

They are but not under native windows. You need to switch to command line
otherwise the clock thieves will slow you down. Even command line is not
what it used to be since XP ...

The other option is to use a proper driver vxd, preferrably one that
knows how to freeze the machine while doing something fast for a short
amount of time.

FYI under linux and {open,free,*}bsd the direct io access to the ports is
still available (although you get to write your own driver modules
usually), and there are real time patches and switches for the kernels. So
linux parallel port widgets are and remain an option (a good one).

Peter

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