So if I wanted two users for instance, then I’d have to download an extra copy of each piece of software (one per user) to be able to access (if I wanted tk store them on the drive and not on the network?)

I’ll be stuck with Windows on my work laptop, that’s not something that I will be able to change anyway. I can point out as things come up, but with industry accepted software (like SolidWorks for example) that we use daily I can’t see us switching to any alternative.

Would the programs I install while using one desktop environment not be accessible from the other desktop environment? Akin to installing software in a Windows computer and each user logging into that computer can access that software?

Yeah that’s what has made me apprehensive to be honest. I feel pretty comfortable in windows doing many things, and my wife has a MacBook that I’m also pretty comfortable using so learning a new, third OS does seem obtuse. I like the idea of having more control over the software, but don’t want to lose the “it just works” feeling of an OS or software I am used to using.

Okay great! An interesting tea combination: Mint with Cinnamon :) do most desktop environments work with most distros, or is there a list per each distro?

Okay thank you! Could you give some examples about tasks that “should be easy” but aren’t? I’ve worked with MacOS casually and I thought it was based on Unix (maybe?), so I was at least aware that the way to maneuver through the desktop/settings/file searches are different from Windows of course. I am certainly not a power user, just getting frustrated with companies overstepping more and more and want to cut myself from their whims, if that makes sense.