Do a little bit of work and you get to demo a whole operating system, without having to license or agree to much of anything.
True. The MS licenses are annoying. I think linux is the way for the future with people realizing that they can get for free almost all of what they are currently paying for. As for why arduino has not become the linux for small mcus, i think its more to do with the ego of developers who believe that something thats easy for the beginner is not good for real-time development.. i feel more that way after reading the arduino haters on this post..
People just dont realise that they are falling victim to corporate monopoly at times.