Yay, technology!
In order to make my webex online course work on my linux laptop, I need to run it through Internet Explorer running in a Windows XP virtual machine.
Yes, that is as convoluted as it sounds. The good news is that now at least I can see what the course presenter is doing, and my laptop seems happy enough to chug along.
Still, webex, get your act together! Firefox running on linux 64 bit is not an uncommon setup, considering that 3/14 course attendees are running that it!