Qubes is not just an abstraction. Its isolation allows to overcome the problem of fundamentally insecure software. For example, my passwords are stored in an offline VM (where I don't run any apps) and my random internet browsing occurs in a disposable VM (which is reset every time).
Yes, Qubes does not solve the problems like Spectre and Meltdown. Yes, you must trust your hardware to use it. If you are looking to solve such problem, then you might be interested in a stateless laptop: https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/state_harmful.p....
Apart from that, I believe, the best computing paradigm is free software and free hardware, but it does not seem too widespread now unfortunately. This would be the actual solution. The "behemoth companies" are not trying to solve computer security. They are trying to get as much profit as possible, and it goes against security of the users. This is why they are not supporting free software.
My current "good enough" solutions are disabled and neutralized ME in a laptop and Librem 5 phone.
Yes, Qubes does not solve the problems like Spectre and Meltdown. Yes, you must trust your hardware to use it. If you are looking to solve such problem, then you might be interested in a stateless laptop: https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/state_harmful.p....
Apart from that, I believe, the best computing paradigm is free software and free hardware, but it does not seem too widespread now unfortunately. This would be the actual solution. The "behemoth companies" are not trying to solve computer security. They are trying to get as much profit as possible, and it goes against security of the users. This is why they are not supporting free software.
My current "good enough" solutions are disabled and neutralized ME in a laptop and Librem 5 phone.