It exists, and is called Linux 
But seriously…I recall in the halcyon days on Win 98 SE, when some guy came out with a stripped-down version of Win 98 along the very lines you refer to. It’s been so long, I don’t even recall what it was called, or how patent rights worked into the deal. I suspect someone here will remember. I bought and used it.
Today, however, I think we are well past that… I am loading stuff into Cubase projects, for example, that would have brought even a well-tweaked XP install to its knees not so long ago. But my understanding is that the days of worrying about IRQ’s and such are behind us –