Hi. I'm a Fedora user from Brazil. I'm currently running Fedora 9 on my machine at home - and since I'm a translator, I work at home, using this machine.

I like Fedora, it works pretty fine, but I do have a few problems with it. First, Fedora values free software a bit more than I do. Don't get me wrong, it's just that sometimes I need something that is not free and Fedora makes it harder for me to get it. For example, if I try to run a DVD on my machine I get all that info about proprietary codecs, and no link to libdvdcss. OpenSUSE makes things easier, with links to a one-click-install package. I was VERY impressed when I tested it on openSUSE 10.3, about a year ago.

Second, openSUSE supports each new version for two years, and since I use this machine to get my translations done I don't want to install a new version every six months. It's my job, I don't want to install a new version and get bugs and more bugs all around.

I have tried many distros in the past, but openSUSE 10.3 left a pretty good impression, so I'm considering a migration.But I would like to know how openSUSE fares in a few key areas:

- Stability;
- Newer versions of software (suppose Mozilla releases Firefox 4 in six months. Will openSUSE jump on the boat, or will I have to deal with FF3 for months?)
- Performance: I assume openSUSE will run fine on my 1GB RAM machine. But how does it perform on a machine with 512 RAM? I plan on installing it on my wife's PC too.

Forgive me if I'm asking too many questions... thanks in advance!