I haven't seen anyone talk about this yet, but I don't think you have to be an OS architectural genius to see that this could be a step toward support for mobile devices (and probably embedded devices also).
According to
Slashdot, the GUI portion of the next generation operating system is not going to be in the kernel. In other words, it will be like a component add-on that is integrated into a version of the OS that is released. A mobile device could then run the same kernel, but a lightweight GUI layer.
Many people are still expecting or hoping for a version of desktop Windows flexible enough to effectively support small screens without a completely different Windows Mobile OS like we have today in Pocket PC devices. Windows may not look the same on all platforms, but would run on the same kernel and potentially have much better compatibility with desktop apps that are compatible with various device types. To be a realistic progression of the Windows OS, one would also need to see support from Microsoft developer tools as well as improvements in mobile cpu technology. But Bill Gates has always seen the future of mobile computing to be a device that runs a full OS. It's just a matter of when the hardware can do it (and when the OS supports it).
On the other hand, many consider that whole concept to be a pipe dream that is doomed, or at least not appropriate for the next decade or so. I guess time will tell what direction mobile computing will take, but it's pretty hard to rule out just about anything at this point!