I mean, we're going on close to 30 years or so that Linux has had parity with Windows for the kind of driver we're talking about: loadable kernel driver for a weird accelerator core that takes firmware but doesn't really fit into a driver model otherwise.
On Linux this is a module that exposes a character device with one off ioctls.
On Windows this a kernel mode driver that exposes a Device object with one off DeviceIoControls.
I really don't think the reputation is deserved in this case, both kernels added equivalent support for this workflow back in the 90s.