I think the dividing line between linux and windows is a simple question. Did other people consider you a dos expert before you ever used windows? If the answer is yes, linux is dos on steroids with an ethernet card interface available on installation. If no, the would-be Linux user if they start up with gnome and gnopernicus can probably consider themselves in on the ground floor where the screen reader community was with windows say back in 1995 or maybe 1996. The difference is, it wasn't necessary for the developers of Linux to nearly be sued for them to start working on accessibility. Something that may be of some help for gnopernicus users I read over on gnome-accessibility-list yesterday. If gnopernicus goes silent and it appears to be for no reason, you might try hitting control-escape. A user on that list does this pretty frequently and is able to get gnopernicus talking a bit more. I wonder if the <start> key might also be used too since control-escape is what's sent out by the <start> key also known as the <windows key>.
