Didn’t try it but FYI maybe PhotoGIMP could make GIMP usable for you!

Agree for Excel. An alternative can be to use winapps which allow to run excel via docker (or podman) and open windows app same as if there were natively installed.

SpeedCrunch for the win ! 😉
But seriously, compared to qalculate I prefer SpeedCrunch UI.

IMHO as long as linux don’t have a full UI for main settings it will be difficult for it to impose himself.
I know a lot of people will say that now you don’t need the terminal but actually you do!
I am using Fedora with KDE and for instance it offers no GUI to easily create and manage user groups. You want to look at your service, stop them, start them, schedule a task… It’s all with terminal ! And I am sure there is plenty of other examples.

Don’t take me wrong, I am still a Linux user! But I would appreciate not having to look/check online to change some basic things once in a while! 😉