I am a great fan of Linux, and I too have tried Mint. If it were not for the requirement of Windows for some programs that I use I would switch to Linux. I suppose I could always use Wine to run the one or two applications that I have that do not run on Linux but it doesn't seem worth the effort to switch when Windows itself is working well for me.
For anyone who is not familiar with Linux it is a good alternative to put on an older computer that is still working well and that you only use for email, browsing, and office apps like Word processing and spreadsheets.
I do agree that LibreOffice can seem a little out of date and I find the search and replace function for special characters a little clunky but in general terms it too does everything I want.
I recently switched mail server to save a little money on my now seldom used Australian email and I was very annoyed to discover it was an MS Exchange system which has somehow forced me into an MS environment which I have no desire to be part of. I will be investigating alternatives when the current contract expires. In fact now that I think about it I will probably switch to mail forwarding and remove the account from all my devices.
As for Microsoft Office / Outlook / Exchange with mail and calendar: Try DavMail. I read my company emails with whatever email client I want (mostly Mozilla SeaMonkey / Thunderbird and Lightning) via DavMail. Works like a charm. Windows and Linux alike. Freeware. Open Source. Donated a couple of times.
