Windows has a mess of legacy UI that are never fully replaced.
They could have gone down the path of translating the windows UI APIs, though I think it's better that they left it as is. The bigger issue however, is that there are different systems depending on what it is you want to configure, and it's all ducktaped in an ancient registry that I'm just amazed only breaks as often as it does.
Not to mention that the thing Windows was supposed to always be better at, was driver support. On windows, you have to manually source them, and try as best to avoid all the bloatware that comes with. Windows itself might also decide to replace a driver with an older one (version, release date...). WiFi drivers didn't work last time I upgraded the mobo either.
As for Linux. Completely agree. Gnome is consistent, and gets out of the way often enough. There are some annoyances there too. I have my 90 y/o grandma use Linux/Gnome, because that's what Just Works these days.
