Have you actually looked at the kernel code or worked with it? It's some of the cleanest code I've ever seen. It does have to do some things very differently

Have you actually looked at the kernel code or worked with it? It's some of the cleanest code I've ever seen. It does have to do some things very differently due to it being kernel code rather than userspace, and it is a VERY large codebase (esp. when you add in all the driver code), but aside from that it's quite nice IMO. Most commercial projects I've worked on really were a "garbled mess" by comparison, and far less maintainable.