Question as someone who keeps being prevented from switching to Linux because of professional programs that are only Win/Mac.

I often read that you can just use Wine? So I would be in a Linux environment for everything and when I need to use a Windows program it can be run via Wine without leaving that environment?

Or is it a case of having to switch OS’s whenever I need to? Am I confusing that with dual-boot?

Yeah especially considering you can install 3rd party solutions to dock the taskbar to the left which work perfectly fine