[perdunov]

I wish they shipped their superb kernel as a separate product allowing third-party shells, as their UI design division has gone off the rails.

Actually, I think there should be a law for making OS kernels replaceable and separate from UI shells. I have to use Windows as certain software and drivers are not available/performant enough under Linux, so I have to deal with the crazy Windows 8.1 UX.

[tacos]

They already do. It was NT Embedded back then and Windows Nano Server now. Believe me, they're aware of the value of that kernel.

Also it's trivial to replace the UI. Minus the 5 billion dollars in R&D of course. But it's just one registry key if you want to get started on it...