Actually, I beg to disagree. Mint Linux is definitely ready for prime time and doesn't require an initiation. I definitely recommend that anyone who wants to take it for a spin get the live distro, put it on a usb stick, and boot it up.
What is missing is some of the office-related apps - as much as I wish it was, LibreOffice is not quite as good as MS Word is.
However, if most of what one does is browser-based - as a lot is these days - then one should be able to get along just fine on Mint Linux.
I'd say not. I am not far from you, but you or I can easily navigate networking difficulties, and setting up emails and such... You and I can find alt means for software that may not be available for nix...
Joe User, not so much. And there is a dearth, at least here, of competent tech help in Linux among my contemporaries... There's maybe a handful that I could recommend here locally. You're on your own in Linux - That's fine for you and me... Joe User is not likely to easily surmount those difficulties, and the nix community is reliably RTFM, and always has been.
That all being said, I largely agree with your assessment - I too would recommend Mint, if I were to recommend any. It is easy and intuitive by Linux standards.
I lived in OpenOffice for many years. I am back in MSOffice now, largely for compatibility and troubleshooting purposes as a tech - It worked fine for me in all things except Outlook. I have missed Outlook all the way along.
