My reply to the comment

[Geoff Shang]

Hi all:

Well, I managed to figure out how slashdot works and such and have written
a few small notes in a discussion on linux vs. windows for a blind user.  I
also wrote a lengthy response to that infamous comment passed onto this
list.  I reproduce it below for your information.  Note that Kirk's E-mail
and the www address are clickable.

Geoff.




Re:"Compatible appliances" and competition

   (Score:1)
   by linuxgeoff on Saturday March 25, @06:24PM EAS
   ([30]User Info)
   
   I don't know whether you are seriously miss-informed or just spouting
   hot air. I could assume the latter and just ignore your post, but
   since it has a great potential to seriously misseducate the general
   public, I will address every point in your comment.
   
   Zipspeak is a version of the zipslack minidistribution which
   incorporates the speakup kernel patches. Speakup is a screen reader
   project headed by a blind hacker named Kirk Reiser and assisted by
   speakup users and other interested people. Therefore, it is not a
   threat to independant producers as it is itself an independant
   product. It is always open to new people to get involved, it is
   released under the GPL, and it therefore is also free.
   
   Since speakup is a product written by the people who wish to use it,
   the aim is, in fact, to be as compatible with as much hardware as
   possible. The list of synthesisers supported in zipspeak matches those
   supported at the time of the last speakup release. Since then, more
   drivers have been written and driver code is constantly being worked
   on. As some of these drivers are not to a satisfactory standard, they
   were not included with zipspeak. I dare say that zipspeak will be
   updated upon the next speakup release, which by the way will only be
   version 0.09.
   
   Kirk is always keen to add more synths. I needed a specific driver
   written for my particular hardware. He began writing it one Saturday
   morning, and by Sunday night, I was running it. Talk about service.
   
   We are curious to know about your speech synthesiser. All Kirk needs
   to write a driver is a spec sheet listing the commands and the lend of
   a unit to test the drivers with. Even if your speech is in software,
   we are interested in knowing about it. Feel free to drop Kirk some
   mail.
   
   I can't emphasise the independence of this enough. This is free
   software! There is no FDA approval, tax exemptions or any such things,
   it's just plain hard work and satisfaction in the result. I know
   little about Apple's standards, but none of their operating systems
   are particularly usable, in fact, I'd say that linux is much more
   usable than any apple OS ever was or, quite probably, ever will be.
   
   If you would like to know more, you can visit the speakup webpage at
   [31]http://www.braille.uwo.ca/speakup/ where you can also check out
   the speakup mailing list. In addition, you may also contact Kirk
   Reiser, head of the speakup project at [32]kirk at braille.uwo.ca.
   
   Geoff.