Yeah, no.
Recall that the 1st meg (plus 64K) on a PC (real mode) was fundamentally different from any other memory, and the only place you can run executables. Most often, the challenge was freeing up enough of that space for the program under consideration. Memory managers handled mapping the above 1 meg ram so that programs could access it (really just horrible bank switching or copying...) . They also exploited 'empty' spaces above 640k, but below 1 meg, for small things like mouse drivers. It wasn't plug and play, and it wasn't a lot of fun. For a challenge, get Doom running under DOS on a 4 meg machine, oh, and you'll need Lantastic to support your ArcNet cards.....
Better than chip, fast, slow, whatever? Probably, but it wasn't "just run this magic program and it will all work" either.
Full disclosure, I came from 6502 and 68K, and you'll never convince me that segmented memory is anything other than an abomination unto mankind ?
I remember having to learn about and choose from the 6 different memory models that Borland C supported... 'fun' times.....