Yes, openoffice is a lot better... make sure you download 1.1 If it doesn't work, just use kwrite, abiword or any of the numerous other word-processors around.
Also, for those who like to mess with their machines, apt-get is a must... lemme link you the article... *rummage*
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1890&page=4 (That's for RH8, should work fine with 9)
As for multi-media offerings, please read my long list of Open-Source applications in the other thread, all of these run under linux except one and are of very good quality.
If you know enough to deal with the graphics drivers then you'll fall into things once you use it 24/7 soon enough. Just get more and more interested in how the system works and you'll do fine.
Also, make sure you patch with apt-get often. UNIX-based machines are very powerful and will be exploited fast in the wild, patch often.