Morning Isaac,

Hello,
> I'm looking for a Linux distro that I could recommend to friends who are
> ​
> rather frustrated with Windows 10.
> The friends in question ask me about how to fix problems with their
> ​
> computers from time to time.
>
> The essentials would be:
> -has a *good* Windows migration assistant, which must be able to handle
> ​
> Windows 10; I know that Ubuntu used to have this.
> -glibc-based, so that Flash and Avast Workstation will work
> (at least one of the friends in question uses avast on Windows)
> -has Chromium (and preferably Chrome)
> -has Open/LibreOffice (one of the friends in question has used OpenOffice
> ​
> on Windows since...7 or 8 years ago, I think)
> -DE familiar to Windows users (if Trinity were more active, I'd go with
> ​
> that without hesitation; but I suspect properly configured Xfce or Mate
> ​
> may be better at this point.)
> -can install to hard drive, though support for Live CD is desired.
> -binary based
>
> Highly preferred:
> -not rolling release, since one of the friends in question is rather
> upset about the new Windows mandatory automatic update policy.
> -non-systemd based, so that I can help debug issues; OpenRC or sysv-rc
> ​
> preferred
> -dpkg/apt based, since that's the package manager I'm most familiar with.
> -easy-to-navigate system administration GUI.
> -wireless GUI that
> ​​
> doesn't require preconfiguring wpa_supplicant.
>

​Based on your stated use case, I would recommend,
MX-14 Linux: http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

Their stated goal is to continue maintaining the Debian Wheezy base with
Xfce4.12.x into the foreseeable future, to avoid systemd. They are watching
development of alternatives to systemd. MX is more middle of the road than
antiX which is aimed at lower end computers. I like antiX but I think MX is
a better fit for your user group. It comes with more additional utilities
than the great majority of distros. There are very few other distros
without systemd: I know of PCLinuxOS; Mint supposedly offers a choice but
didn't for me with 17.2?
Admittedly, I don't know much about Win10.