They can have my 7 when they pry it from my cold dead drive.
Not that I really like 7 all that much, I just hate a lot of what M$ does. Forced change and updates make my brain wobble.
(Really wish I knew Linux.)
In my experience with ubuntu derivatives, it's pretty easy-going these days.
My only pre-ubuntu skill that still occasionally comes in handy is knowing how to use a terminal-based text editor, for which I can remember three occasions while setting up kubuntu recently:
1: Configuring Linux to access my networked scanner
2: Permanently mounting my second data HDD on Linux
3: (yet to come) configuring the boot loader to have less than a 30-second timeout (I dual-boot Windows and Linux)
To begin with though, I'd say download a live CD ISO and either rip it or install a Linux virtual machine so you can have a play around. Two things are important IMO to evaluate at this point:
1: Which desktop environment suits your needs best? If we're just talking about Ubuntu derivatives, there's the main Ubuntu, there's Lubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu. I'm using Kubuntu 20.04 LTS.
2: Can you get suitable software for your needs on Linux? I use Firefox/Chromium, Thunderbird, Sunbird (emulated Windows app via Wine), Virtualbox, LibreOffice, the Gnome document scanner, VLC, XNViewMP, Veracrypt, that's about it I think.
Using a virtual machine is handy because you can switch between an environment you're comfortable with (presumably Windows) for looking up help etc, using a live CD is perhaps better for finding out if say graphics hardware support is available. I've got a Haswell-era desktop PC and an AMD R9 380X graphics card, no trouble.
The only other advice with Ubuntu derivatives I have to begin with is to stick with an LTS release as they get at least three years of support, the non-LTS versions only get one year. Frankly I have better things to do with my time than an OS migration every year!
If you're seriously considering Linux, I'd suggest starting a thread in the open source forum here and I don't mind giving you a helping hand.