Arch on my home server, Zorin on my laptop

Yep, you can download their “Desktop Editors”

Yeah, I made the mistake of running Hyprland on a fresh arch install and was super confused at the lack of terminal 😅

Permanent zero-cost activation that survives reinstalls

KMS requires phoning back to MS periodically to keep the license activated. It’s still “permanent” because there’s no limit on duration (as of now at least).

HWID activation registers a hardware ID in MS servers to permanently license it. That means no renewal, just forever activation that survives reinstalls.

Just want to shout out to reviewbrah for giving us this absolute gem of a phrase

Creating a driver requires a deep understanding of some pretty low-level pieces of Linux. If you’re new to Linux, you should probably start with some “new to Linux” tutorials and get an understanding of some basic command line usage. Work your way up to being able to follow a guide on compiling the Linux kernel (without any of your own modifications). After that, you can seek out guides on creating a driver.

As a second note, fingerprint drivers are categorically difficult to work with, so this would really be jumping in on the deepest of deep ends. You can do it! But it will take a LOT of self-education.

Depends on your distro but yes, there are Microsoft TTF fonts you can install.

https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/how-to-install-microsoft-fonts-on-linux-for-better-collaboration/

It is 100% the support. Corporations pay big money to have experts on call to fix things fast when they break, and there’s basically no other player for that kind of model in the Linux space.