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>Please, correct me if you think I'm wrong!

What you're asking is at cross purposes with the Linux movement. Linux is fundamentally different from Windows because its development model is different. It needs to be highly modular because there is no big company managing development (Red Hat and Fedora are the closest thing). So it cannot be like Windows, because that requires having a Microsoft. Also, expert Linux users are not interested these days in making Linux resemble Windows.

Your only choice is to bite the bullet and accept that it will take a few years of struggle before you become proficient. Trying to find Windows-like distros and programs will only superficially help at first, but it will quickly make it even harder to learn, because the quality of "Windows-style Linux programs" is quite low. By the way, I'm talking here about using Linux as your main OS for everything, not dabbling. It *has* to be your main OS, it's like taking a Japanese language class vs. moving to Japan.

During this "acclimatization", you will be unable to independently solve many problems. Instead, you will rely on copy-pasting commands from forums and using packages or scripts other people wrote. Certain aspects of Linux like drivers, graphics, sound, networking, printing are just too complicated to pick up right away. So I would recommend that you make sure to start with a *popular* distro. A good indicator is the [number of packages](https://repology.org/repositories/statistics). This narrows it down to:

* Debian: Reliable, but quirky and software is often out of date
* Ubuntu: Bad distro but proprietary vendors think Ubuntu=Linux so it gets great support (eg. drivers)
* Manjaro/Endeavour: Add user friendly GUI tools to Arch, but they're buggy and can break you system. Usually you have to ask for help on Arch forums anyway, and those people absolutely seethe when they realize you're "not using real Arch"
* Fedora: Has a company actually hiring engineers to develop the distro, so a bit less chaotic

Do not start with Arch or NixOS. Although these are good distros, they target expert users and you'll be very overwhelmed.

Another big factor is choice of desktop environment, because usually it will take care of some annoying things like networking or sound. Note that in Linux, you can easily install multiple DEs and switch between them.

* KDE/Plasma: Explicitly inspired by Windows 7 UI
* Cinnamon: Spiritual successor to Gnome 2 (because the current Gnome 3 is awful) which is also very similar to Windows XP
* Xfce: Lightweight but usable, similar UI patterns to Windows. By default has a Dock and top bar like Mac OS, but you can change those easily.

Even with a DE, get used to dealing with the CLI. Everything in Linux is designed CLI-first. The GUI is often just an afterthought. Get comfortable browsing and reading man pages as this is primary documentation for most programs. Yes, many man pages are very complicated and hard to read - unfortunately you will often just have to live with it, as many expert users insist nothing is wrong with them and refuse to improve. I also find https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr helpful. But generally, get into the habit of checking a program's manuals and online help channels before you install it - know what you're getting into.

20-30 years ago the Linux community had aspiration of becoming a popular desktop OS, and commercial OS design was more conservative, so the migration was easier. These days Linux evolves more according to the needs and wants of existing Linux users. They've given up on beating Windows/Mac OS. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Apple have stepped up their "innovations" which makes their OS even more different and harder for users to switch. I think the trend will continue, so if you're interested in Linux, I would recommend isntalling it (in dual boot mode for emergencies) and using it as default *now*. Later, you will only acquire more Windows-specific habits which make it harder to migrate.

I made this answer superficial because it's impossible to cover it all in detail. I have [a proposal](https://linux.codidact.com/posts/289650) to improve matters, but the admins must create a new section first for that. Maybe you can support the proposal. But in the meanwhile, I'd recommend asking more questions about individual specific things on https://linux.codidact.com/. Likely those questions will also be too general, but we can hopefully give you some pointers on yet more questions to ask and that second set will actually be answerable.