"Tech old-timers like myself fondly remember Windows NT and all it stood for"

This is just rose tinted glasses really.

Remember all the "there must be a better way" conversations that were rampant in the NT3/4 eras. If you're in any doubt, pick up any old IT magazine of the 90s and remind yourself what we were concerned about. Things that Windows 8 does in its stride: hardware compatability, backups, speed - these are distant memories these days.

Usability was a bigger problem then than now. Fewer people in general had any idea about computers - how many can recall a first hand experience of a new-start talking into the mouse as a microphone (or similar caper).