On the subject of ease of use....

[Georgina]

Hi

WEll on the subject of ease of use, I believe that it is down to perception of 
the user.  Windows users have to remember keyboard shortcuts for both the OS 
and the screen reader.  Even with the pull-down menus, support lists are 
frequently asked how to access something that is easily found.  Blind people 
have to attempt to gain a spatial understanding of the screen's layout.  I 
think that the obscession to use the GUI is to feel that it brings an equal 
access but this is sadly an illusion as if the program doesn't have keyboard 
shortcuts then we're stuffed.

Since January 1st I've been using Linux to deal with my e-mail because of the 
number of attempts to infect my PC with the Bad trans virus, or whatever it 
was called.  Anyway, I find that I can deal with mail a lot quicker under 
Linux then I can with Windows.

When you consider that to exit many programs you press the letter "q" or "x" 
which is a lot easier than alt + F4.

I've also discovered a simple but great menu program which can easily make 
Linux even easier than Windows as it does work by pressing shortcuts (Letters 
of the alphabet), arrow keys and the return key.  This menu system is called 
pdmenu, check it out.

The bash shell shouldn't be 
compared with DOS because they are worlds apart.  The history buffer, auto 
complete and long filename support make it superior and far more blind friendly.

Don't get me wrong, Windows provides better OCR support and perhaps the 
internet but this is how it is now, who knows what the future might bring.  

Gena
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