It took them only 25 years to improve the UI (since early days of WinNT 3.1). Unsexy parts of the OS are rarely touched, e.g. the Windows system font folder import dialog used to look like a Win16 file open dialog even in Win7.
On the other hand, it was probably by design. Microsoft wanted to promote the Windows Registry and GUI of Win95/NT4 and made the command prompt (cmd.exe and other Unix/DOS alike parts) unpopular and not easy to use.
On the other hand, it was probably by design. Microsoft wanted to promote the Windows Registry and GUI of Win95/NT4 and made the command prompt (cmd.exe and other Unix/DOS alike parts) unpopular and not easy to use.