As far as I can see most are using the same protocols they always have over the buses they have always supported, no special driver applies. But even then, why

As far as I can see most are using the same protocols they always have over the buses they have always supported, no special driver applies. But even then, why limit the end-user application to a Windows desktop native application in C or C++ when you can also just have it run a communication server and do the client-side things in a more universal implementation. Makes for better compartmentalisation anyway, like the example of the closed networks of chip manufacturers. The chip machines and control systems run linux, but the desktops can be anything with a TCP/IP stack and a browser.