It is if you can lock down requirements on the box, thing is new things crop up and require things you removed, so you have to repeat the process (after you figure out the missing parts). This sort of minimalist approach might be desirable in a work environment where things are
You'd think it would be, but It really wasn't. The requirements were very much tied down,
thousands of pages of the things. It was more a case of finding that XP isn't as modular
as they'd like you to think it is, and taking out certain bits effected other bits which
really would appear to have no relation what so ever.
The system had to be known inside out, which was why they'd gone for dismantling it in the first place. It was an odd thing though, because the powers that be required that what ever made the system work was understood and could not break, as it was part of a saftey critical system(In many more words than that). In reality to implement the complexities involved in the system, a modern operating system, with complex GUI capabilities was required, which could never meet for sure the saftey criteria requested.
Some reckoned they should have gone with Linux, but then it wasn't like their budget was gonna allow the analysis of several million lines of code either.
I reckon if most industrial projects stuck to the rules down to the line, most industrial projects wouldn't happen.