This guy sounds like quite the martyr if he is indeed leaving the platform he's been using for more than a decade on political grounds. I think he's either lying to try and stir up a response from Apple or he's that crazy. Linux isn't easy to get into, but going from one platform to any other is going to take a lot of effort.
I moved into Linux from a background in Windows. The way I did it was to start by gradually replacing the proprietary Windows applications I was using with FOSS equivalents that had good cross-platform support.
The next step was to install Ubuntu as a dual-boot onto my secondary computer and play around with it. I quickly determined that it was considerably easier to do most of the things I do on computers under Ubuntu than it was under Windows. Going back to my primary OS came to feel more and more like returning to prison after a weekend pass.
When it came time to replace my main PC, I bought a new box with no OS and installed Ubuntu as my primary system. Migrating my data was painless, since it was all stored in open formats by this time (moving my email was particularly nice - I just grabbed my Thunderbird profile and dragged it across to the new computer).
The final test was my wife, who is not that interested in technology and just wants the computer to work. The transition was painless for her, since she could use all the same applications on the new computer that she had been accustomed to using on the old.
