Mint Linux is ready for prime time.

micro$oft pays people or threatens them.. to keep games off linux.

I used to love playing Helldivers on linux, but for no apparent reason they removed support.. then broke the game for linux users.

I also watched micro$oft steal 'Halo' away from the mac. I was a mac user. Until the mac started to destroy my ability to do things I wanted to do. I also watched them develop software duplicating shareware apps, destroying their markets.. outright intellectual theft in my eyes.. and for a multi-million (now billion) dollar corporation to be so greedy and give nothing back to the creators.. I felt un-inclined to continue working on that platform.

oh, and iTunes used to be soundJam before Apple bought it.. it was good for a while.. then slowly they destroyed what I loved about it.

Unless more people walk away.. they will continue to do what they do.

but for most, they are simply unaware.

The practices of microsoft has always been about entrapment. from the very beginning.

they sold excel for 20 dollars. everyone bought it. they waited until people were dependent upon it..

then jacked the price.

what you are describing is just a more advanced version of that simple tactic..

Linux does have Wine (wine is not an emulator) which can run many apps. you might want to check WineHQ (https://www.winehq.org/) to see if your apps you need/love are supported via that. WineHQ lists applications and gives them a rating based on how well they work. If it is platinum rated.. you are all set! You can install and run your app without and loss of functionality. Gold rating means everything runs but a few cosmetic issues.

I used to play Starcraft 2 on linux.. tho not without a bit of headache in setting it up. (partly because of my multi-monitor setup) but I've since lost interest in that.

The sooner you walk away, the better for all of us.

in a very real way, we are paying for our jailers.