FWIW:

I am using Ubuntu MATE (Intel version) on my laptop and Ubuntu MATE (AMD version) on my desktop. I have VirtualBox on both systems, with a virtual copy of Windows 8 copied to both from an external drive. Basically, this setup lets me run two closely related distros of Linux, and still use my Windows desktop whenever needed. I do not dual boot. Backup of the desktop is super quick and easy - but I do NOT include the virtual machines in any backup. My setup allows me to use Word and Excel and my windows-only software, and all the Linux applications available to Ubuntu. By using "guest additions" with VirtualBox, I enabled a shareable folder on my Linux desktop. I can share files between Ubuntu and Windows.

Maybe a free or commercial virtual machine is in your future? VMware and VirtualBox are my current favorites.

The benefits of a VM (virtual machine) are portability and backups. It's very nice to port my critical windows desktop to my laptop and also keep archives. Transferring a 40Gbyte VM folder is very, very slow, but it is far easier than installing Windows twice. Also, my copy of windows can be kept secure by virtue of being isolated from the network. I'm sandboxing my Windows desktop.

In the past, I have been royally screwed for thousands of dollars of software when Windows decided that they needed an upgrade. I lost Photoshop, and Illustrator, probably for good. That sioftware might install under WINE, but they won't work right under windows 8. I have other software that I have yet to reinstall - Lightwave and Zbrush. All told, Windows upgrades cost me $2400 - I'm not happy! The perpetual cycle of upgrades has financially affected me and wasted many hours of my life.

Now I have Blender and Gimp - and what do you know, they work. The word on the street is that Adobe products have moved to a subscription-based model, and that Windows 10 might go the same way. What a farce to be charged for your software every year! Gee, Microsoft decided that Windows 8.1 sucks (no surprise), but for a 90Gbyte download, you can install their fat pig of an OS, which will need regular patching! Screw that noise.

You could always install Linux in a virtual box on your current Windows system. Think outside the idea of "one OS". The choice is not "either or", it's both. Or many. One host OS can have multiple guest OSs running many different distributions of Linux and/or Windows.