content: Well I say downgrade first because most people would need time to investigate an alternative OS and learn how to do all the common tasks and seek some replacement applications for others. In my mind it would go like this: 1 - Downgrade from Windows 10 to a previous version of Windows you were using. 2 - Begin exploring various Linux distros in the VM environment. 3 - Find what works for you and then, once you are sure you are ready, down out of MS completely. Downgrade was just to get them off Win10 as soon as possible. There is nothing stopping them exploring Linux in VMs while they still have Win10 installed, but you should really uninstall that mess of 1s and 0s as soon as possible.