This is the real issue. If ReactOS actually became useful, Microsoft will act against them. Doesn’t matter how cleanly they reverse engineered their implementation, ReactOS most likely don’t have the funds to deal with any legal battles.

I don’t know about OP but when I use a VPN, it’s on all the time, not selectively enabled because I’m going to a particular website.

When I, rarely, need more advanced features like window splitting and session management I also use Zellij

Konsole does window splitting as well, doesn’t it?