Niche distribution has nothing to do with quality of distribution. The user base are passive users versus active users like daily office and game users.

The quality has gone done hill. Windows Embedded / IoT is often used to run your ATMs or some form of industrial automation. Windows actually has a real-time OS (RTOS) mode for just this.

The company I work has planned to replace Windows with Linux for future products and even moving active products to support both Windows and Linux during the transition. Only products that will stay on Windows will be legacy that are near EOL.

Personally, I would never use Windows OS for future products and solutions in these environments. Nor would I use it for network / server based solutions.