[AceJohnny2]

The problem is that such a sysadmin is expensive, and what companies call "sysadmin" today is an almost completely different job.

Microsoft revolutionized personal computers because they made things easy and cheap. Their stuff was meant to be used by the average joe, not a greybeard who'd survived the Unix Wars.

At the same time, IT is always seen as a "cost center" to be reduced and outsourced. Unix? Too expensive, replace them with Windows, and if there's a problem, re-image the system.

The sysadmins you describe still exist, but they're called SREs by Google or who knows what elsewhere. Today's "sysadmin" is an outsourced phonecenter guy in Bangalore.