I guess it depends on your needs. 90% of my working life is a terminal to run terraform, emacs to write code, and slack to chat with colleagues. In each of the companies I've worked over the past 10 years I've had a google workspace account, and I think I've never even touched microsoft office in all that time.

Yes there are options. In practice you pick one distro, the one your friend recommends, or that the IT department gives you.

There are probably fields in which you cannot use Linux software, but for your average joe? It's not impossible, and it's not that confusing with a little patience.

I'm sure you mean Microsoft Copilot 365 App, not Office :D

I can't get over how they torpedoed one of the most famous brands in the world... but that's kind of on brand for them now, self-sabotage.