A newbie's observations

[Patrick]

My interest has been in using Linux rather than making it work. As a 70-plus 
member of the great unwashed public, so to speak, my comments might be of 
interest. 
I installed SuSe 9.2 about six months ago. I would never have made it where I 
am now without the valiant efforts of my middle son. From that point of view 
SuSe is not for the faint of heart. Maybe Red Hat is easier.
That said, my expectations have been fulfilled 100%. I have a stable system 
that I can rely on. 
KDE, supplemented by a program called Kall, enables me to E-mail directly from 
my "Kontact" list of contacts and to have the computer dial their number when 
I want to phone them. That's a big help as one gets older and begins the 
embarrassing habit of getting digits in the wrong order.
I have just connected my new digital camera to the system and can use Gimp to 
manipulate the results. 
I enjoy Open Office programs and find browsing and picking up my E-mails fast 
and safe.
However, one or two concerns remain. Can anybody shed any light on them?
1. I have yet to find a radio station that will play music over my speakers 
other than WBJC in Baltimore. Are there such animals around, or is every 
station a captive to you know who?
2. I like to listen to investment webcasts. But, once again, the companies 
concerned seem happy to limit themselves to Windows Media or the Windows 
version of Real Player. Even my broker, who has quite a good web site, has 
taken to telling me I must download the Acrobat Reader (Windows version is 
implied) to read my statements when I have a perfectly good Linux Acrobat 
reader that opens PDF files on other pages of the same broker's site for me 
daily.
Is there any way of persuading the great world out there that there are other 
computer users than Windows or Mac users, and that we have a right to be 
served in our own language? This is a real stumbling block we yet have to 
overcome.
Patrick

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