AlmaLinux is effectively a downstream of RHEL, so it inherits a lot of RHEL’s pros and cons.
Nah, it’s been upstream since RHEL locked down. Rocky’s been doing some funky stuff though.
Towards the end of the life cycle, the packages get very old
Good thing there’s flatpak, snap, appimage, nix, guix, distrobox, etc. to keep you up to date. The question is then: do you mind if your DE and drivers don’t change for years. And that’s perfectly fine for a lot of people.