"The rest of us use Word/Excel, Internet & email.." - so one of the "easy start" Linux distros (like Ubuntu, but I'm a SuSE man myself) should do you fine
If you buy Windows you'll also have to buy MSOffice if you want to do Word/Excel - gets pricey! If you go Linux you'll have a free OS and free OpenOffice and thousands of free applications.
Linux is....different. Even now, it can have a bit of a learning curve, but once you've done it it's done forever - and you're not Gates' serf any longer.