[dogma1138]

You won't be able to distribute your fixes (because they contain MSFT copyright protected code), reverse engineering the binaries and even the API might be a violation of the DMCA, and you will not be able to update system files from within the system it self. So yes they kinda preventing you from working on it, at least for the benefit of anyone besides your own intellectual curiosity.

That said I don't see any problem with MSFT dropping support for XP, they supported it much longer than any software by any vendor closed or open sourced.

GL getting support for RHEL 10 years down the line if you haven't upgraded your OS, and Linux from 10-15 years ago has as much in common with Linux today as Windows XP has with Windows 10.