The EVM is like Windows or macOS, an operating system reading and understanding programs written in Ethereum's specific language: Solidity. It is a Turing-complete software that enables anyone to run any program, making the process of creating blockchain-based applications much easier and more efficient than ever before.
That is why there are thousands of different applications running on Ethereum's blockchain, because you do not have to write an entirely new language to be able to build an application.
A Turing-complete machine is a concept of a machine that can calculate anything if it has unlimited memory available. Actual computers have to operate on limited memory, therefore they cannot be called Turing-complete. The Ethereum blockchain, on the other hand, is a distributed Turing-complete program.
Say you want to create a new coin that would be used only...