WINE is a viable option for most programs. WINE stands for WINdows Emulator, and will run most popular Windows programs in Linux. As the popularity for Linux continues to grow, that will become less and less of a concern though.
As the years go by, I'm less and less enamored with MS, and Gates' stranglehold on the computing options for the unwashed masses. I hate spending money on things that seem not to be improvements. I want to retain control of my computer.