Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s usually to run some old, proprietary software that only has a Windows version.
"Old, proprietary software" describes something like 80% of all the software keeping the modern world going.
On the contrary, most critical software is plenty new - things like MS Office. Still bound to Windows.
The remaining systems rely on truly custom software and should be either airgapped (so no RDP) or rewritten. I'm thinking industrial - they should've planned for this many years beforehand. There were instances back when Windows XP was the main driver.