[zenoprax]

> ... localized case of inertia where I have so much data, settings and programs concentrated in my OS install that migrating it all ...

Your first step is start swapping out Windows-specific programs for cross-platform alternatives. Eventually you'll have to just cut the rest loose and make the jump though. Don't bother dual-booting either or you'll just delay it further.

I made the transition a few years ago and it was far less dramatic than I imagined.

[tavavex]

Luckily, there's not that much Windows-only software I must use. Unluckily, it's pretty essential:

- Fusion 360 (the only alternative seems to be learning a different, likely far more involved CAD)

- Paint.NET (a simple, quick, no-nonsense image editor - while there are image editor alternatives, as far as I can tell there's nothing quite like it)

The bigger issue that might keep me dual-booting are graphical features. Things like VR and HDR are already known to be janky on their "native" Windows implementations, so I'm scared to imagine what any of that is going to be like on Linux. Neither are common use cases, but I still want to hold onto those where possible.

[zenoprax]

I feel that pain. I was using Lightroom since 2009 or so and I it took me many hours over many Saturdays to extricate myself from its grasp. That being said, my efforts to abandon it was the only thing that exposed a lot of problems (metadata, duplicates, etc.) so... it worked out in the end.