Single data point (me): The pains of switching were greatly exaggerated in my head. First you get a good base: Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora (?), etc. You may hav

Single data point (me): The pains of switching were greatly exaggerated in my head. First you get a good base: Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora (?), etc. You may have to spend a few hours sorting out drivers. I personally haven't had to do so for ages. Then you ditch Unity (or $default) and try out a few window managers until you find what you like. Then you "fix it" by customising away your annoyances and tailor it to your workflow. I'm too tired to re-write this to sound less preachy - so downvotes are welcome - but I was a diehard OSX (up to 10.6) user until I put my toe in the Linux pool. I was expecting it to be freezing and "braced for impact", but actually, it was quite warm and inviting. Exception: If need OS X apps, your path may be met with more friction. If there's a Windows equivalent to the OS X app, give Wine a try (Windows Emulator) - I keep hearing about how it gives people grief, but as far as I've seen, even my (distinctly non-technical) mother has installed and used small Windows applications without a glitch (or even realising that she is running Windows applications on her Mint). I think I read about some Mac-wine kind of thing, but not sure how mature it is - Google will help you. To borrow a slogan: Just do it. You may be as surprised as I was.