I think if I were wanting to bang out a simple embedded design with a GUI, this is exactly the direction I'd go. It isn't like you usually need super complex behaviors and I'd hate to add in extra toolkits or a big framework just to get a few buttons on a screen.

I've never dealt with Raspberry Pi world, but I can see the value of stripping the software world on one to the bare minimum. I wonder if someone has put together a FreeRTOS tool chain for it.