It took me at least an hour to figure out how to partition and mount a drive

This is honestly surprising to me, because the process is basically the same on most Linux DEs as it is on Windows:

1. search for “partition” and open the app
2. select the drive you want to format
3. adjust partition table
4. apply

The UI is a little different, but the two major DE families (GNOME and KDE) have a partition tool built-in with a nice graphical representation of what’s going on, which is IMO more intuitive than what I’ve done w/ Windows in the past (hasn’t been since Win 7, so things may have changed).

That said, if you search for it, you’ll get a half dozen (or more!) answers because everyone has their favorite tool (fdisk, cfdisk, etc). But what’s provided in the default installs of most major Linux distros is dead simple. And that’s why I recommend Linux Mint to new Linux users, it comes with pretty much everything you’d need out of the box.

I’ve never accepted using Wine as a work around for unsupported programs

Agreed. If you need specific Windows software and it isn’t available on Flatpak, I’d tell you to stick w/ Windows.

But if you’re okay with learning using something similar (i.e. you can use any word processor and don’t specifically need Word), then by all means, muck about with WINE if you want to give it a shot, because you have a high quality alternative as a backup plan.

That said, if you only need one or two Windows-specific apps occasionally, I’d recommend setting up a VM or dual-boot. I had a VM for years because I needed a couple Windows-specific apps occasionally, and I was okay with the performance hit on the rare chance that I’d need to run it.