Does it abnormally restrict your ability to write software, or to publish software?

I imagine Windows doesn't do much to stand between you and writing your own code for personal use.

Both. I write middleware for games for fun, which is a kind of middle ground between game programming and systems programming. The Windows APIs are horrible compared to their Unix counterparts.

Care to explain? Oh you mean some APIs don't look the way you want, not that microsoft actively does something to stop you.

I feel like they secretly are.