Few questions about speakup

[Janina Sajka]

Charley:

I just don't know how to get through to you on this subject. It's not like 
that on Linux.

Przemek Klosowski told you the same thing on the radio the other day. He 
even gave you reasons why it wouldn't happen. But, you seem to not hear 
the reasons. I will try one more time.

There's a technical reason, and an administrative one.

The administrative one is that lots of Linux users need and want CLI. 

The technical reason iseven more compelling. Apps in GNU/Linux are 
customarily written in ways that keep the presentation separate from the 
application's functional code. This is why they can support different 
kinds of displays, and why you can run the app on one computer while 
displaying the interface screen half way around the world. In other words, 
an "off screen model" of the application interface makes no sense on 
GNU/Linux, because that's not how displays are handled. Applications 
simply are not defined by screen painting routines. Rather, display 
environments connect to applications in order to get information to 
portray. 

Notice, for example, that the elements making up the GNOME desktop are all 
objects with properties. We could render them in a straight text 
interface, if we wanted to. In fact, that's exactly what the Blazie 
engineers had planned when they were working on a Linux based Braille 'N 
Speak--before Freedom Scientific took over the company and trashed the 
Linux project. The Blazie engineers were putting GNOME in the BNS. 
Understand that. It's important.

Next, please don't confuse data with applications. The information you 
save to disk is not the same as the code that makes your word processor. 
Yes, Microsoft applications want to write in proprietary file formats, so 
this is not well understood by people with Microsoft experience. But, that 
isn't a reason to get frantic over GNU/Linux. We don't abide by those 
restrictive M icrosoft rules here! Halleluijah? Can I get an Amen on that, 
please?

In other words, many of us can share common data files though we use 
different applications to read, edit, print, and transmit the files 
around. Don't believe me? Well, what is the world wide web but an open 
protocol accessed by multiple applications, alias user agents? Certain 
companies attempts to restrict the web to proprietary protocols doesn't 
change the fact that the web is open at its core. That's what made it 
great. The fact that someone might want to steal that greatness for 
themselves says something about the thief, not about the web.

Lastly, we're talking open source here, and we're talking open licensing. 
We don't have to content with anyone to build accessibility support. If 
something doesn't work right, we simply get some engineering talent on the 
job to fix it.

On Mon, 29 Jul 2002, Charles Crawford wrote:

> But how long will it be before the text apps start fading away?  More 
> importantly, looks like we are in for the same kind of war whee blind folks 
> are at risk at work because the new Linux distribution has graphics not 
> done with Gnome?  This is a serious problem because there are so many 
> distrobutions out there  and I get very nervous about once employers get 
> Linux, they want to use graphics and if the graphic programs do not have 
> the ability work with the text ones?
> 
>          Someone please tell me I am being an alarmist?
> 
> -- charlie.
> 
> At 01:06 PM 7/29/02 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hi. Well, it is in any operating systems best interrests financially to go
> >to a graphical user interface. The answer is simpl.
> >The sited world simply can't use there computers without a mouse. You give
> >them a computer without a mouse, and they will stair at it in dumb wonder,
> >and will exclame that they can't use it.
> >
> >I just fixed a laidies Windows 98 computer the other day. Her mouse got
> >screwed up, and that was it. She didn't know how to access the start menu,
> >shutdown her computer, and basically absolutely zip.
> >
> >That is why some distributions like Mandrake Linux are designing around the
> >gui, and leaving off some text programs. To us it sounds mordifying, but to
> >the sighted world that is great, and they buy it, and Mandrake is happy, the
> >buyers our happy, and business is booming.
> >To Mandrake's credit the profetional additions include a wide range of both
> >text and graphical which makes everyone happy.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Speakup mailing list
> >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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