Why not? Apple does it with their devices, every Android vendor does as well (to some extent.) Motorola goes the extra mile with every device but the Droid to the extent that unless you hack the bootloader you won't be able to load a 3rd party ROM.

Perhaps that was too snarky. I don't advocate switching, I advocate expanding ones understanding to platforms and ways of doing things outside the normal purview. It's how creativity thrives. Tying ones career to a single platform would make me nervous, personally.

That's not Windows. It's trying to be Windows compatible, but the fundamental nature of Windows itself neither open nor free, and cannot be so long as it is wholly under the control of MS.