A lot of the software getting hacked isn't even truly Windows-specific stuff to begin with though. VPN appliances, firewalls, they're probably all running out of date Linux distros. Active Directory servers could have some open source competitor too, aren't they mostly Kerberos? And for the rest, ChromeOS could knock it off too with a mix of web apps and RDP.
Yeah, but you'd need to rewrite the whole Windows app for a native Linux or macOS port because WINE to my knowledge can't access devices even if there were a Linux/macOS driver.
> Active Directory servers could have some open source competitor too, aren't they mostly Kerberos?
AD is so much more than just LDAP+Kerberos. You have a fully integrated file store, native and direct integration into Exchange (on-prem and cloud), group policies for users and machines, DNS, DHCP, NTP... one vendor, one tech stack, one management way. Set it up and you're done, and even a novice can set up a minimal working small-business environment in a day.
With Linux, you have to integrate/configure Samba (LDAP, GPO, file storage), Heimdall/MIT Kerberos, postfix/exim (Mail), no idea what one could even use for calendar sync, BIND (DNS), ISC DHCP server, Jitsi (Video calls), Mattermost (Teams chats). Each of these software pieces have their own configuration syntax, nothing integrates automatically on its own, guides are sometimes horribly outdated, there's subtle differences in behavior between distributions, some of these tools have web UIs for management, others are CLI, and all of them look and behave differently.
"Wine includes some limited support for direct hardware access, including running native Windows drivers. This comes with several restrictions, but we still have been able to successfully access some native devices."
"For example, the SteelSeries USB mouse driver offers the ability to modify the mouse's LED settings as well as simply driving the mouse, and in this case Wine is able to pass through the LED settings"
Depends on the hardware. Stuff like mice, keyboards or game controllers yes, as long as they're supported by the host OS stack (don't get me started on bluez and the clusterfuck that's Linux audio in general). But anything dealing with user-mode USB drivers (looking at you Samsung ODIN or a truckload of webcams) or more exotic hardware is out of luck.
> Governments do this to themselves. The USG doesn't even have to pick Microsoft. They could potentially sign contracts with Apple for workstation hardware and services, that would encourage and feed the alternative ecosystem based around Apple, or they could fund Linux, etc. They don't though.
Apple shot themselves into their own foot here by completely discontinuing their Intel x86 lineup. You can run Windows stuff on the M series SoCs but performance is atrocious (unless it's ARM Windows, but good luck finding software compatible with that oddity, no thanks to Qualcomm here who couldn't be arsed to put out actually usable chips for years).
As for Linux, there is already a huge amount of government funding into Linux because of servers and their support contracts. That's how RH, SuSE and the other commercial Linux distributions are surviving. The problem is the desktop software stuff, here the chicken-egg problem comes into force - and made worse by the fact that unlike Microsoft who can just decree whatever they want and the rest of the world has to accept it, FOSS projects are mostly driven-by-consensus, and if you're a commercial or government entity needing a feature you have to either fork off with all the cost that entails or herding cats and playing petty politics with people from all around the world (who might just block your idea out of principle after finding out you're working on behalf of the government/Monsanto/whoever is problematic these days, on top).