Anyway, I was responding to someone who wouldn't run either on a spaceship so I still would like to know what they would want to run. I am from a formal verification school of thought, so I would want something sel4.
I'd want manual backup pushbuttons.
And another box close enough so the CD tray can press them when it opens.
Does Microsoft also provide you the tools to build it? I assume there are many Microsoft internal tools, libraries, etc required to compile anything of note. Presumably it has been dog fooded for so long it would be impossible to bootstrap without some number of binary artifacts in hand.
I feel like this misses the point so much that it might as well be nonsense.
A better way to put my argument is: could an average mom build Linux on specialized hardware in space? If the answer is "yes", then you may have a point.