I can speak to a few of your questions. I’ve been fully on Linux, both my laptop and gaming PC for two years now.
Gaming - I use Steam for all of my games, and have had few issues. Steam uses Proton to allow non-native games to run, and it happens all within the Steam client. New Proton versions update within Steam just like your games. I’ve run across a few games that wouldn’t launch or would CTD, but those are few and far between and similar to my experience in Windows.
Sample of games I’ve played without issue:
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Horizon: Forbidden West
Helldivers 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Dwarf Fortress
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Deep Rock Galactic
Sea of Stars
Factorio
I have an Nvidia 3080Ti and use the proprietary Nvidia drivers. From what I recall, the install was painless and I haven’t had driver issues.
OpenOffice - I use LibreOffice, because to my understanding it is actively maintained unlike OpenOffice, and I haven’t had any issues casually using it to view documents.
I use Thunderbird for my mail client and haven’t had any issues setting it up or using basic functionality. It works just as well as it did under Windows.
I installed VS Code or one of the foss alternatives, can’t remember which, and haven’t had issues with it.
TL;DR that’s really my experience with everything in Linux. Some things are a learning curve, but most stuff just works. I’m also not a tinkerer. I just wanted an OS that works and stays out of my way and Linux has been great for that.
I can speak to a few of your questions. I’ve been fully on Linux, both my laptop and gaming PC for two years now.
Sample of games I’ve played without issue:
I have an Nvidia 3080Ti and use the proprietary Nvidia drivers. From what I recall, the install was painless and I haven’t had driver issues.
OpenOffice - I use LibreOffice, because to my understanding it is actively maintained unlike OpenOffice, and I haven’t had any issues casually using it to view documents.
I use Thunderbird for my mail client and haven’t had any issues setting it up or using basic functionality. It works just as well as it did under Windows.
I installed VS Code or one of the foss alternatives, can’t remember which, and haven’t had issues with it.
TL;DR that’s really my experience with everything in Linux. Some things are a learning curve, but most stuff just works. I’m also not a tinkerer. I just wanted an OS that works and stays out of my way and Linux has been great for that.