I agree with you, an open-source OS that could run anything Windows-related would probably be preferable for the average user over switching to something completely new and hoping you can find a workaround or compatibility layer, simply because it’s a lot more work. If ReactOS had been around and on par with Linux 20 years ago (oh gosh I’m that old…), I probably would’ve gone with that on the old PowerBook my grandma gave me rather than Ubuntu, just because I’d been using Windows. At the time, installing Ubuntu was, while the easiest way to get Linux, still not very easy, and I did bork the first hard drive. That said, I don’t regret my decision, and I probably wouldn’t ever go back to Windows, but I might still give ReactOS a try!
I agree with you, an open-source OS that could run anything Windows-related would probably be preferable for the average user over switching to something completely new and hoping you can find a workaround or compatibility layer, simply because it’s a lot more work. If ReactOS had been around and on par with Linux 20 years ago (oh gosh I’m that old…), I probably would’ve gone with that on the old PowerBook my grandma gave me rather than Ubuntu, just because I’d been using Windows. At the time, installing Ubuntu was, while the easiest way to get Linux, still not very easy, and I did bork the first hard drive. That said, I don’t regret my decision, and I probably wouldn’t ever go back to Windows, but I might still give ReactOS a try!