Running a cluster directly on EC2 also gives you the choice of using any available Kubernetes distribution, such as Minikube, K3s, or standard Kubernetes as deployed by Kubeadm.

kind, microk8s, or k3s are replacements for Docker Desktop. False. Minikube is the only drop-in replacement. The other tools require a Linux distribution, which makes them a non-starter on macOS or Windows. Running any of these in a VM misses the point – you don't want to be managing the Kubernetes lifecycle and a virtual machine lifecycle. Minikube abstracts all of this.