Yeah, that just is what Windows always has been and still is: a Mac-imitation GUI of an operating system that operates another operating system (DOS). (My, no wonder they never get it simple and working!)
Thing that Microsoft refused to do is starting all over from scratch.

Excuse me, but throughout the whole history of the evolution of Windows's interface, one can clearly see that there has been some influence/ inspiration coming from the Mac OS GUI, which itself has been inspired from Xerox's but anyway, Microsoft's interface designers have always been trying to mimic the interface of Mac OS.