GUIs (was Re: A comment on Slashdot)

[Janina Sajka]

Hi, Kirk:

Yeh, M$ has, what? 24 or so staff on accessibility?

As compared to how many on Word alone? Something like 3,000, I believe.On
Tue, 11 Apr 2000
cpt.kirk at 1tree.net wrote:

> Janina,
> 
> I agree that M$ should provide the offscreen model. This is especially
> true since you are not supposed to decompile the software and all. Now I
> won't go into software lisince isssues and what is really legal. But if
> one were to abide by the letter of the lisence, then I doubt that a screen
> reader could be written.
> 
> I am also quite familiar with the broken Active Accessibility. I believe
> that M$ wants to appear responsible, but they are not willing to put up
> the ante. I know for instance that MSAA was broken and they knew it ahead
> of time. There was no surprise when IE4 released. It was known and the
> decision made to go ahead.
> 
> But I think that when a company decides to close their code off from view
> they should shoulder 100% of the load in making the code workable to all
> who have a need to interface to it. The truth is, that they can and should
> do better. They could make keyboard access a requirement. (For that
> matter, they could probably make it so that keyboard access just happens
> for all things.) They could also make it so that every peice of textual
> data is always available. But they have chosen not too.
> 
> Part of the problem is that it has been years since there was a true
> coordinated development effort in Windows. The project has grown to the
> point where it is no longer coordinated. And in case your wondering, no
> there is no documentation on the registry that comes anywhere close to
> complete. There are branches that developers impliment because they need
> to store settings and the programmer is the only one to know what is being
> used for what. In some of those cases the programmer has left the company.
> 
> I used to be a staunch supporter if M$. I will not spend any of my money
> on a product again if given a choice. In fact, I would ask for a refund
> for any bundled apps that came on a computer.
> 
> Kirk Wood
> Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net
> ------------------
> 
> Why can't you be a non-conformist, like everybody else?
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 

-- 

				Janina Sajka, Director
				Information Systems Research & Development
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

janina at afb.net