I'm not sure that getting rid of Microsoft monitoring your life by ditching its software and using a Chromebook instead, where Google is doing much the same, is any better. That depends how bothered you are by companies flogging your data profile, of course.
For Linux, while I would guess that most people would get by with browsing and email software, if you're a hobbyist or have any remotely exotic hardware, you can run into problems. I have some survey software that runs under Wine (a windows emulator) but won't talk to the meter it needs to download data from over a usb com port cable. A gizmo I use to record LPs doesn't work at all in Linux Mint 19.2, my soundcard works but not all its peripheral features, a TV card needs its drivers recompiling from scratch every time there's a kernel change and there are some really tedious problems with basic networking that have to be resolved with obscure command line stuff.
To be fair, you can get 95% of things working in Linux straight off but be prepared for weeks of frustration with the remaining 5% and be prepared for custom fixes to break after updates. As a free OS that doesn't phone home, though, it is fine for general internet use.
