I have been considering and researching moving to W10, but am increasingly convinced it will not work for me. The amount of knowledge and subtle - as well as brutal - hacking and tweaking that would be necessary is more daunting with every forum I visit and blog I read. Dedoimedo, Nsane forums, and My Digital Life reveal tens of thousands of man years have been dedicated to making W10 usable by security conscious folks, and I am sure you are familiar with all three, making your assessment grim reading for me.
Mac, for the same reasons you detail, isn't going to be a long term solution for me, and I don't want to spend the necessary time and effort on a temporary fix. That leaves loonix, which has the various drawbacks you point out.
Too bad Terry Davis wasn't quintuplets!
Thanks!
Shutup 10 by O&O does a good job disabling a lot of the garbage Microsoft turns on, and easily turning them back off when there is a patch.
Take a look at Qubes if you are really concerned about security, otherwise the three choices are:
Or of course Qubes.
Reading up on Qubes now. Thanks for the forthright information.