Hewlet Packard and Linux

[Janina Sajka]

Charley:

It really is different in linux, not so much because it's linux, though
that helps a lot, but more because it's open source. Not everything
produced for linux is open source, but the vast majority is. In fact, open
source is the ethos of the linux community. This includes X apps. So, if
there's something that needs a tweak because blind people can't use it the
way it is, we are able to make that tweak. We needn't ask permission. We
needn't beg someone else to put us in their priorities. We can simply open
the source in our favorite editor and fix the code. This kind of activity
is not frowned on, as it is in Microsoft environs, it is welcomed and
encouraged.

To learn more about this approach to software go to:

		http://www.fsf.org

Please note that major commercial entities, such as Sun Microsystems, have
bought into this approach. Check out:

	http://www.gnome.org/projects/gap
	http://www.openoffice.org

What I am about to say should not be taken personally. Over and over, we
have seen discussions such as the one currently at hand. People come to
linux from years of struggles with DOS (which is remembered fondly these
days, though it wasn't necessarily friendly either), and Windows (which we
have somewhat conquered but still leaves us unsatisfied). We are like
immigrants in a new land. Our old land didn't offer us 72 varieties of
soap at the grocery store--we were lucky to get any soap at all. So, like
immigrants who simply can't understand why there are 72 varieties of soap
on the shelf, we don't understand the variety and variability inherent in
open source environs.

Still, we come because we are unsatisfied. So, consider that your linux
experience, at the absolute worst, will be a tremendous learning
experience--like a cultural exchange. At best, it may just feel like
you've been set free in the world of information. Free at last.

What will not serve you in this new land are all the old ideas and
strategies of coping. This is not Windows, and it isn't even DOS. It's
different--very different. Those rules don't apply here. So, you will be
confused if you try to interact in the old familiar ways. What is
required, rather, is a new attitude. Suspend what you know about Windows
and DOS and learn. I know this isn't easy, but it is the path to
understanding.



On Sat, 25 Aug 2001, Charles Crawford
wrote:

> Gregory and all,
>
> 	Thanks for the note about the ability to keep the text of Linux up despite
> the growing Xwindows.  I really do hope that continues since I am a bit gun
> shy after seeing Microsoft slowly killing DOS.  As I understand it, you
> can't boot in DOS anymore and I am not even sure the apps will work in the
> new Xp.  More tragic in the DOS world is the cintinuing loss of speech
> products for the environment where older speech hardware can't even be
> installed.  So we truly have to not only see Linux for what it is now, but
> we must also make sure it remains a place for blind folks to still do our
> thing with an operating system as powerful as it is.
>
> -- charlie Crawford.
>
>
> -- charlie Crawford.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>

-- 

				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175

Chair, Accessibility SIG
Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
http://www.openebook.org

Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper,
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Learn how to make accessible software at
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