Many thanks to all the people who shared their experiences. And especially to the Belgian Linux users, among them my husband, for hearing me out every day and always being generous in their comments.
Also a special thought for Tabatha Persad for doing a really thorough revision, spell check and styling, and to Eugene Crosser for marking the errors that we two looked over.
And thanks to all the readers who helped to pick out the last errors, unclear definitions and typos by going through the trouble of mailing me all their remarks.