mike0liver wrote:It looks like there is a bit of Microsoft emulation going on here: "if you don't like it, go somewhere else".
Not at all. In fact it is the opposite of Microsoft as there are so many choices of distro. If you don't like one, try another.
mike0liver wrote:What reassurance do I have that I'll like either Mint or Fedora or that they won't eventually change to something I don't like after I've switched?
None at all, just like everything else in life. The key difference is that it costs you nothing to try the alternatives. Nor is there anything else stopping you having more than one distro installed at once.
Unity is Ubuntu's baby, Fedora won't be using it and Mint have stated pretty much the same. Even if they do change to something you like, there are plenty of other distros out there - you are never locked in to picking one distro and sticking with it.
mike0liver wrote:Sorry - I thought your last response might resolve things for me but it seems I must keep up with the race and not get to feeling comfortable with anything that might strike the tecchies as "old hat" - that's not Red Hat, but Old hat

)
As a "techie", I certainly don't consider the alternatives to
unity old hat, I don't like Unity myself. Don't restrict your options just because you used a particular distro before, try alternatives and use what suits you. Change your system to suit you, not the other way round.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)