Better than VMs for most cases where you need a specific Windows software — though not for gaming — I just discovered WinPodX, and based on my initial exploration, it’s extremely interesting and works pretty well, even though it’s still in beta.
The most surprising thing is that this system challenges the common belief that Windows cannot read — let alone write to — Linux ext4 partitions.
Windows 11 is running on a Linux distribution, and Notepad directly edits a file located on a different system and a different partition than the host system.
What’s more, you have full access to USB devices, and Windows apps install directly into Windows, just as you would install them on Windows.