The patent application, "FAST BOOTING A COMPUTING DEVICE TO A SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE" outlines a boot process involving a general operating system like Windows alongside many special purpose operating systems that boots much more quickly to provide “appliance-like behavior” such as viewing entertainment content (TV, music, DVD).

Microsoft proposes that after the user is launched into the specialized OS, the general purpose OS would actually start loading in the background too. Furthermore, once the two are running side by side, the system may automatically and seamlessly transition the user to the general OS.
This feature may even be a part of Windows 8 as “Direct experience”, according to Manan Kakkar
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