Drop the GUI, go to Core, and manage the thing with PowerShell. You'll feel better.
Mind you, the razzing the Winders geeks got from the Unix dweebs when that CLI popped up was pretty good. Some things are easier with a little GUI - IIS admin, for example - but yeah, it looks like a blast from the past.
I'm getting sucked back to Linux admin and I gotta tellya there's a little rust here. What the heck, it pays.
Remember that Core doesn’t do everything. IIRC, IIS requires the GUI install. Core services such as AD, DNS, DHCP, and DFS are supported, and they’re really the most important to secure, IMHO.