It's a matter of convenience.
Your setup is far more complicated for a non-technical activist or journalist Vs. Tails.
Typical configuration would be one Whonix-Gateway to connect to Internet via Tor and one or more Whonix Worstations.
If you're serious about protecting yourself, Whonix is a requirement.
"Unanimously?" By whom?
By anyone who has read and understood the technical design pages.[1][2][3]
[1]: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Dev/Technical_Introduction
"By using our website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed to our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms of Service, and E-Sign Consent."
I clicked in "more information" and was directed to a long page with small print, where you have to navigate to different policies (which remain somewhat hidden if you are not careful) ...
Really?
Easier to understand than most I see.
I wish they'd simply summarize what it is.
Also:
> Learn What Is Whonix?
I certainly hope the people behind this distribution have better English than that.
I also hope they're better mannered than you are, and much better informed.
Only through Qubes, but I do most of my web access in a disposable (ephemeral) Whonix VM in Qubes, and it does exactly what it says on the box.
I agree with you. Web design doesn't seem to be the strength of the Whonix team.. and got worse over time.
Basically, you download a Virtualbox image, import it and then have a hardened Debian VM with Xfce UI & some privacy-friendly apps like Tor browser & a crypto wallet. The internet is slow (because of Tor) & tcp-only, but sufficient for most things. Virtualbox guest extensions are included and most things work out-of-the-box.
> See DOS run.
> Run_DOS_Run!
Click "What Is Whonix?", scroll down, "Whonix ™ consists of two VMs: the Whonix-Gateway ™ and the Whonix-Workstation ™. The former runs Tor processes and acts as a gateway, while the latter runs user applications on a completely isolated network."
Whonix (KVM) is like running Debian with XFCE, but no matter what you do, your real IP address will never leak, at any point.
They might be accurate, but they are not impartial evidence for unanimity or even broad consensus.
On the page that OP linked to, there's statements such as:
"The Everything Tor OS - All traffic is routed through the Tor anonymity network. No exceptions. Whonix is the "All Tor Operating System"."
"Cloaking your typing style - Your typing behavior can be used to identify you. Whonix prevents this with a cloak for your keystrokes."
"Live Mode - Whonix offers a much requested Live Mode. After the session all data will be gone."
So I don't get your point. Of course if you want to know how, in detail, you have to read the documentation.
Yes, additionally, it has been concluded that it is impossible to hide the usage of Tor from the ISP, VPNs do not help. The usage of Tor is obvious.
> but don't want you to use a VPN
If you can't use Tor safely, it would be unlikely that you can use a VPN safely either.
> That may give you privacy, but it hardly seems like it makes you anonymous.
What makes you say that? There are millions of Tor users connected at any time, if you believe the number of users is an issue. I suggest you read more about Tor on their website - https://torproject.org
> Rather, wouldn't that send up a giant beacon for anyone at your ISP who cares to look at connections they (or the authorities) might want to pay more attention to?
No, I don't believe so granted that you live in a western democracy.