But you've made a good choice. Anything that is M$ and you absolutely need can be run in either a Virtual Machine or use WINE (Windows Emulation).
I’ve tried Ubuntu, Mint, Puppy, whatever. I’m back with Windows. WINE is pitiful. Plus, why should I run a second operating system on top of another (Virtual Machine) just so I can use Windows by itself. Think about it. You don’t like Windows but you run VM because it allows you to run Windows apps. Duh.