I've been saying for years I was going to move back over to Linux. This will be the push I need.
Sadly my Dad is bad at computers and will need Windows 11 when using 10 becomes a problem. I'm throwing this at my brother since I was the one who got our Dad a Windows 10 computer. FU Microsoft, you peaked at XP.
I was in your place when Win7 died (Win 7 was the true peak, fite me :p) and made the switch myself, then.
Also linux is easy, probably easier, for parents to use. They don't game or do anything complicated, all they gotta do 99.999999% of the time is just load the web browser to do whatever they are doing. I have several astonishingly stupid family members running linux, with less issues than when they had windows.. So maybe you can swap out your dads OS without much issue. Just use a distro that has a more windows-y interface with a start button and the bar across the bottom.
I could see the argument that 7 was peak, but I think it was XP.
My Dad pretty much downloads pictures from his phone and browser the web. One issue is some of the sites he uses are set up weird. That why he finally allowed me to upgrade him from 7 to 10. He complained about certain sites, which I really didn't pay attention to which, would give warning about browser being out of date, then the sites refused to even load. That is when he allowed me to upgrade. They probably would work but I don't want to risk issues with any sites having problems with Linux.
Nope. For a family member you just install ubuntu. Maybe if you feel strongly about it, you uninstall snap firefox and install apt firefox, but otherwise you just leave it alone.
it'll run forever, auto update, etc. completely hands off and stress free.
Doesn't apt install the snap package on Ubuntu when it's available anyway? I'd say Mint is probably easier then. Ubuntu has gone a bit off the rails in recent years.
I got a Chromebook years ago to have to write when out, but now they won't update it and to install Linux I have to flip a physical switch on the other side of the motherboard.
My Dad gets upset and let's me know when Yahoo changes their homepage. (Yes, he still uses yahoo mail.) He has a flip phone and still struggling with it.