I have QB history similar to Sqrlzrus and am similarly looking for an alternative. Really a shame because I very much liked QuickBooks up until just about when this (now very lengthy) thread began.

Thoughts on your two suggestions:

1) Oracle offers VirtualBox, a free virtual machine software package, that I have been using to run Windows 10 on my Linux computer. Does just fine and should support your recommendation to avoid Internet connections.

2) I am investigating GnuCash and Manager.io as free, no-baggage alternatives with the PROFOUND hope that one of them works out. Both are available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Biggest uncertainty is whether I can export a couple of decades worth of data out of QB and into the successor program.