So since Vista all major Windows APIs are COM based, not always surfaced to .NET, and we are expected to just go through books like ".NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide" and do the needful ourselves.
WinRT as introduced in Windows 8 was then the full reboot, with .NET metadata taking over TLB files (COM type libraries) and introducing a new base interface IInspectable.
So the long term vision pursued by Synofsky, was that .NET Native and C++/CX would take over with COM fully replacing .NET.
Naturally it all failed down during the borked execution, and now you still have devs pushing for C++/WinRT, the C++/CX replacement, with ATL like tooling as "modern". Maybe it is modern given the tools that they are used at WinDev, I guess.
Ars even has a nice article how this reboot took place,
https://arstechnica.com/features/2012/10/windows-8-and-winrt...