To be fair, it could have been something like bad ram causing the freeze up and crash. Microsoft can't be responsible if the hardware isn't maintained. It's all speculation.
Have these clowns never heard of redundancy? Did these clowns not think to fix/replace a system that had, quote, "been seizing up for weeks"? or stop anything risky until it was sorted?
Slightly unfair to Microsoft. Anyone who relies on Windows for anything important wants firing and banning from being involved in data acquisition ever again. It even tells you in the EULA.
It's been years since I've looked at the EULA this closely (I know...), but IIRC the EULA specifically cautions against if it does not outright preclude using standard Windows in such a critical, hazardous application. This may be one one the sections that is WRITTEN IN ALL CAPITALS.