Comment by CodeArtisan

NTOS (Windows NT's kernel) was originally designed to be backward compatible with Windows (DOS era), OS/2 and POSIX. Designing such a kernel was considered a performance at the time but probably cost its fair share of bloat that kept growing with the years. Also, it's not surprising that Linux is optimized for operating on files since the UNIX philosophy is about considering everything as a file, something that Dave Cutler (NTOS main designer) was known for criticizing[1].

I pray daily that more of my fellow-programmers may find the means of freeing themselves from the curse of compatibility. (Dijkstra)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Cutler#Attitude_towards_U...