Microsoft, contrary to popular belief, is not, and has never been, a direct creator of secure OS software. They have never... repeat, never, created an operating system in house. They are admitting this with the Win11 roll out. They are doing what they have always done, which is to out source security to some other party. The requirements of Win 11 are a direct reflection of this. They want TPM 2 - defined by TCG, Trusted Computing Group, , and UFEI, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface boot- which Intel created. Neither of these were invented by Microsoft. Yet Microsoft needs these cause, they have no clue of the securty of their own operating system that will be based on Remote Access -your "Account," for the all important call home, and record, and sell, all you have done with out some third party back door, hack, directly attributiable to MS. Thus, you have to update your machine, at a hardware level in some way, to run their newest offering.
BSD UNIX OSX Apple and Linux have much stronger kernels of when an OS can be inserted with a nasty. These will notify you, and at least at Admin Level, ask of an authority to do so. You would have to be rather stupid to allow, say, a crypto-ransom attack, on a Linux or an Apple System. It can't do that as a back door.
Yet, you can run most MS soft using WINE. Which is not an emulator.
React-OS is a dead project. Simply because its not only attempting to be 100% code complient with Microsoft, that also means they would have to fix all the issues of the old code of the NT Kernal. This would be like rewriting the whole thing, when it would be much easier to put a Windows like shell on top of an already secure core.
Linux has made huge jumps in the ease of generic open drivers and such, in the last few years.
If you buy something that is MS specific, its your fault buying into the monopoly.
In 2024, all of our personal machines, will be running some form of Linux. Wife HAS to USE Apple OSX for professional work right now as that is the issued computer platform that the University Owns... they own her computer. But that is changing also. And there are pains when when they roll out a 64 bit only upgrade, with out sending out the memo that your programs might just have 32 bit old stuff, as supporting programs. Woops?
For me Win 7 Pro goes directly to the Zorin Linux Distro, even if I have to buy into the Pro version with support. And if a device doesn't support it, I'll get one that does.
There is really nothing that Libra or Open Office can't do that only MS software suits can do. I will admit that the open source community messed up on Power Point and didn't do a good clone.
And for some reason we have all forgotten RTF formats, that any one can read with picts and stuff.
WE CONTROL the platforms with our buying decisions. Its not the other way around.
And, I would not have any faith in any thing PC World had to say about anything.
