FW: USA: Online book-sharing service for the blind borrows a page from Napster

[Amanda Lee]

Man you just don't get it! what are you doing hanging onto a Linux list
for if you're  saying this kind of nonsense?

O' I see! they didn't teach you in WindBlows for the blinkie how to find
the Delete key cuz being a WindBlows supporter, you sure don't want to
think about where it is!






On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Chris Peterson wrote:

> Oh my God!  You people amaze me over and over again.
>
> They don't need pressure on them to make the system accessible to Linux
> users.  They just need a programmer with the experience to write the
> software for them.  This may surprise you, but there are many more Windows
> users than Linux users and programming for Windows and Linux are different
> enough so that it isn't necessarily an easy proposition to write a Linux
> unpack utility with their current programmers.
>
> Not to mention that this is a nonproffit organization that is simply trying
> to organize us to do a good thing and, rather than being happy about it and
> trying to provide constructive suggestions, you want to gang up on them all
> at once.  Wow!  They should shut down even before they start because they
> can't please everyone on the first day.  I don't believe it!
>
> So what would be the best way to handle this?  Why not get intouch with
> anyone you know who has experience programming in Linux and ask them to
> volunteer to help out with a linux version of the unpack utility.
>
> Also, rather than saying, "the web site is not accessible", before you even
> tried to use it, why not go through the web site and make a list of things
> you'd change to make it easier to use with Lynx.  Then send that to them and
> they'll have something to work with.
>
> Finally, if you don't have anything constructive to say, keep your mouth
> shut and let them work the bugs out.  They're not Microsoft, and they don't
> need us ganging up on them.  They could be spending their time on
> money-making ventures, but they're trying to put together a system that'll
> help us out.  I, for one, aplaud their efforts and want to see them succeed.
> I imagine I'll also contribute a book from time to time.
>
> Now, could you all take this off the list as it has nothing to do with
> speakup?  Thanks!
>
> Chris Peterson
> _______________
> The Space Report
> Internet and satellite delivered news from space.
> Visit our web site at www.TheSpaceReport.com
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Patricia Logan" <plogan at dorsai.org>
> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 7:27 AM
> Subject: Re: FW: USA: Online book-sharing service for the blind borrows a
> page from Napster
>
>
> >      Right on, Ann!  My feelings about this almost completely
> > duplicate yours.  The blindness esbablishment as well as the
> > sighted world in computers, when they can't blackmail us into
> > suffering with Windows for employment purposes, try the carrot
> > as well as the stick.  They offer us things we would very much
> > love to have, such as a wider variety of reading material, if
> > and only if ...
> >
> >      Janina, perhaps it might we worthwhile to compile a list
> > of names of people who would use the book sharing service if
> > the site and files were made linux and lynx accessible.   There
> > may well be enough of us to put pressure on them big time.  If
> > you make that list please add my name, resident of New York,
> > NY, under Ann's.
> >
> >      Pat Logan
> > On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Ann Parsons wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Janina,
> > >
> > > Well, I found that it was virtually impossible to get at the site
> > > during the beta.  I found that the application was only a long, long,
> > > long, long, long agreement with several check boxes, but there was no
> > > place to add an address, a name of anything else!  I haven't been back
> > > there because it says on the top of the page that "this site is for
> > > users of MSIE5.5 or above."  I just didn't bother.  I figured that
> > > there was nothing I could do.  My Windows computer has been down for
> > > two months, and I want so much to download books and to join, but what
> > > can I do?  I have some books here I've scanned that I might
> > > conceivably want to upload there, but nobody deigned to say anything
> > > to me.  I'm on the beta list.  Nobody bothered to talk to me at all,
> > > find out *why* I was unhappy with the site, or what I was
> > > experiencing.  In fact, they just about ignored me cuz I use Linux.
> > > It was made very, very, very, very, very, very clear that I was just
> > > chopped liver and so I haven't bothered to even try to access the site
> > > in Lynx.  I figured that it would be virtually impossible, so I've
> > > been waiting for my Windows machine to get fixed, and now I discover I
> > > have to wait more time!
> > >
> > > Janina, I hate Windows, but I want to join Bookshare`!  I want to
> > > download books!  It won't do me any good to go there anyway in Lynx
> > > cuz the unpack tool is for Windows, or didn't you realize that?  Sure
> > > they're looking for somebody to write their program for Linux because
> > > they've finally awakened to the fact that maybe somebody ought to pay
> > > attention to another OS.  But what's the good of writing an unpack
> > > tool for Linux when the site is "only for MSIE5.5 or above"?  I mean
> > > if you're going to be *that* exclusive, what's the good, Janina?  What
> > > about people who only have MSIE4 or Netscape or PW-Webspeak or IBM web
> > > reader?  What about those peopoe, huh?  Do they know how snooty and
> > > exclusive that phrase sounds?  Do they realize how it looks?  Haven't
> > > we had enough of being shut out?
> > >
> > > If my Windows machine isn't up yet, and if I only have Linux, then
> > > downloading an unpack tool for Windows isn't going to do me a hoot in
> > > Hell.  Maybe that's why everybody has been ignoring me, eh?  I'm
> > > sorry, Janina, but you asked me, and I'm telling you.  I feel shut
> > > out, ignored, and thrown away.  The site is for "MSIE5.5 or later", it
> > > says so right on the page, damn it!!!  It's supposed to be for the
> > > blind.  It's supposed to be so that we can access books!  It's
> > > supposed to be a tool to help us, and it's just another fanthom,
> > > supposedly accessible but only if you have the right equipment.
> > > <sigh>  What about people who use W3, what about them?  What about
> > > people who have shell accounts, there are some, you know.  They're
> > > limited to Lynx.  I'm sorry, Janina, but I'm disgusted and feeling
> > > angry and really quite upset.  I didn't realize how upset I was till
> > > you asked me how I was doing.
> > >
> > > Ann P.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
>