I'm using the term "executables" in
the completely generic sense. If you click on an icon or the name of a
file and it executes a program, to me that is executable. Isn't that
an acceptable definition? And you know, to be honest, I like the
suffixes in Windows - although I understand Linux does not use them.
Possibly one of the few things that Windows actually has better than
Linux? For example, in the Windows environment, there are a great many
things you can figure out by the suffix in terms of what programs will
open a file (.wpd for the older WordPerfect files, for example). Of
course, I do realize the LibreOffice will open most of those word
processing files anyway. However, maybe Linux is more secure without
the suffixes, maybe that would be a big issue.

Anyway, I understand why you say to just try to tackle Linux, but when,
of necessity you use Windows at work and such, and also decided to learn
Linux, most of us will have to know the similarities and the differences
in order to learn both systems the best. At least, that's my
experience. I like to keep in my mind both the similarities and the
differences.