Windows actually doesn't allow any driver to work fully. We would still be in the wild west that DOS and Windows 9x drivers were.

Windows has a massive quantity of components only Microsoft products can use, or can only be used in a certain way. A third-party application loading them might risk their developer keys being revoked without a officially signed license of usage, if the keys are even present. But most situation end up with the software getting blocked by Defender or Smart Screen or the user's Windows install being considered non-genuine. This is not only for security, but also to protect the license of the many components Windows is using.

You see no meltdown from Windows users because most don't care when Microsoft tightens their usage rules. Linux users tend to be more tech savvy due to the need of curiosity to leave the Windows ecosystem, meaning they can care about this because they also tend to be actual part of the community, instead of being strangers or passerbys.