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Date:      Sun, 16 Jan 2022 10:25:38 +0100
From:      Ralf Mardorf <ralf-mardorf@riseup.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: How To Install Windows From Free BSD?
Message-ID:  <20220116102538.13a3bfc1@archlinux>
In-Reply-To: <06B942BA-624C-4B49-B9E4-99DC20ADEA72@thehowies.com>
References:  <MW5PR14MB54349D06A33FC83E68B08AE9B6559@MW5PR14MB5434.namprd14.prod.outlook.com> <7537420a-ebcb-1e15-5c18-5c9f07d8a398@radel.com> <1C385392-06C5-492B-B47B-35A74382551C@thehowies.com> <20220116023344.5e2f7c96@archlinux> <06B942BA-624C-4B49-B9E4-99DC20ADEA72@thehowies.com>

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On Sun, 16 Jan 2022 01:48:22 +0000, John Howie wrote:
>Yes, Windows (and other OSes) can get compromised over time, but
>rarely through a RCE. It is usually the act of installing compromised
>software (again, "The Pirate Bay and co"), or going to compromised
>web-sites which exploit vulnerabilities in the browser, which are user
>actions. Windows is no less secure than most other general purpose
>OSes, it is just one of the most popular so people spend all their
>time developing exploits for it and the software that runs on it. That
>makes it seem less secure.

Hi,

even if Windows should be more vulnerable, because it's more used and
not because it's plain crap, than running Windows software by
using wine is still way more secure and it doesn't require neither to
own a legal nor an illegal version of Windows.

Actually running an end of life web browser, that's what the OP wants
to do, is also way more risky, than using something from The Pirate Bay
& Co that is still under development.

Due to my domains, drawing, stop motion and audio and a few other, I
tend to use Linux and iPadOS way more often than FreeBSD, but wine is
also available for FreeBSD, so there would be no need for the OP to
migrate away from FreeBSD, see
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/wine/.

I uploaded an example of Windows software well integrated to an openbox
session by using wine, see https://i.imgur.com/76t5LPe.png . Yes, the
software is not from The Pirate Bay & Co., the Linux version tends to
be less reliable than the Windows version, hence I'm using wine. Btw.
wine allows to install different versions of the same software, I guess
this can't be done when using Windows.

Again, I strongly discourage to install Windows on bare metal. If
Windows should be really needed, it's better to run it as a guest on
the existing FreeBSD install. For the already mentioned reasons a
screenshot of a Debian guest running on an Arch Linux host, see
https://i.imgur.com/xUjIoa4.png . Not the best VM, but probably the
easiest to use is VirtualBox, https://wiki.freebsd.org/VirtualBox .

On Sat, 15 Jan 2022 22:18:54 +0000, Megan Taylor wrote:
>all the windows on ebay or amazon costs $100. i cant afford that.

This is another very good reason to either stay with FreeBSD or to
migrate to Linux. You get a lot of good software for free as in beer
when using FreeBSD or Linux. This was one of the reasons that I used
FreeBSD and Linux only for years. Today I'm still living on the
breadline, but I've got a job and spend money for software, to get
things done, that are not that good supported by free as in beer
FreeBSD or Linux software, see https://i.imgur.com/oIDb4es.jpg .

However, I'm still in favour to use FreeBSD or Linux for some domains,
especially for Internet things such as email clients and web browsers.

Regards,
Ralf



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