I just don't really understand microsoft's goal here. We don't want sloppy, inefficient, clutter. If we did we'd go to macOS. The general windows user wants to have more control over their system, not less. I think the basic rationale for going for windows over macOS has been that it gives you more control and less gimmick. If microsoft tries to reverse this, they'll be alienating their real customers while trying to acquire apple's customers, who aren't interested. A version of windows focused on performance and a minimal UI would make a lot more sense than taking the apple route and just making everything bigger, uglier, and slower.
Of course, for all I know what we know as windows 8 isn't even going to be released as a desktop OS, and while it attempts to work on the tablet market, microsoft will develop an actual operating system for desktop computers and traditional laptops.