Distro wise mint is probably your best bet.
Dependency on proprietary software will be a problem. Maybe it will run via wine. Maybe not. Maybe it will work for a short bit and then inexplicably break. It’s proprietary and there isn’t much recourse. However there are a lot of good alternatives that are available under multiple operating systems.
My two biggest recommendations are look for systems that are either made to run Linux like something from tuxedo or system 76. Or spend $100 on eBay getting an old Lenovo Dell or HP business tower. (Not laptop. Laptop can get into some really weird fucky proprietary stuff.) They’re generally built from solid lowest common denominator Parts with wide support.
Dual booting sounds nice. But it gets to be a real hassle most the time unless you absolutely need it. If you have a system separate just to use and learn Linux on. You WILL have a better time. 4th and 6th generation Intel i7 business Towers are still extremely usable today.
The nice thing is. If you have a separate system running Linux etc. Even if for whatever reason you are not able to completely replace some of the windows software. You can simply unplug or take the windows Tower off the network or block its access to the internet but still have access to the vital software you need. It will give you a lot more flexibility and security