I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)

Thu May 2 17:00:40 EDT 2002

If we go comersial, that's goodbye to free software.  A correction: Not all
linux software is open source;not all open source software is linux.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregory Nowak" <gnowak1 at uic.edu>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)


> I wish he'd stop calling gnu/linux open source. It's free software,
shouldn't he be aware of that difference if he used to work with Richard
Stallman? Also, his response sounds to me like another pat on the back.
> Greg
>
>
> On Thu, May 02, 2002 at 11:28:05AM -0400, Ryan Mann wrote:
> > Hi.  I forwarded some of your responses to Chris Hofstader's testimony
in
> > the Microsoft case and this is the response I got back from him.
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 10:06:15 -0400
> > From: Chris Hofstader <ChrisH at Freedomscientific.com>
> > To: 'Ryan Mann' <rmann at rmisp.net>
> > Subject: RE: I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > Thanks for forwarding the thread on to me.  I'm always happy to hear
from
> > the open source, blinux community.
> >
> > If you read my written testimony, I state clearly that there are a
number of
> > good accessibility aids available for the Linux OS.  I add that the
Linux AT
> > software is written by a group of hard working volunteers.  I do wish
that
> > some of the open source vendors would start investing in accessibility
the
> > way that Microsoft, IBM and Sun already do.  With a reasonable level of
> > funding the volunteers could become professionals and not concern
themselves
> > with doing the really cool work happening already and paying the bills
too.
> >
> >
> > If you also look at my resume (put in as Exhibit 1), you will see that,
> > along with Richard Stallman, I was the co-founder and president of
League
> > for Programming Freedom.  I have been a vocal advocate for Project GNU
and
> > have worked on the defense of a number of companies being sued for
patent
> > infringement and user interface copyright issues.
> >
> > When it comes to accessibility, however, I believe the single most
important
> > aspect is getting jobs for people with disabilities.  With estimates for
> > unemployment among blind people running as high as 75% and with
virtually
> > all potential employers requiring skills in MS Windows then it is
essential
> > that adaptive technologies work in the environment that the consumers
want.
> > In the commercial environment, Microsoft is the overwhelmingly dominant
> > source of Operating systems and, for a long time, Microsoft has invested
> > time and resources into accessibility and is the corporate leader in
this
> > area.
> >
> > Permitting incomplete or altered versions of the Microsoft operating
systems
> > to be sold will reek havoc on a system level product like JAWS and all
of
> > its competitors.  I, therefore, stand behind my testimony entirely.
> >
> > Respectfully,
> > Cdh
> >
> > Chris Hofstader
> > VP, Software Engineering
> > Freedom Scientific, Inc.
> > 11800 31st Court N.
> > St. Petersburg, FL 33716
> > PH: (727)803-8000 ext. 1061; (800)444-4443
> > Fax:(727) 803-8001
> > email:  ChrisH at freedomscientific.com
> > Check out our website!  www.freedomscientific.com
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ryan Mann [mailto:rmann at rmisp.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 8:56 PM
> > To: chrish at freedomscientific.com
> > Subject: Re: I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 20:44:19 -0400
> > From: Scott Howell <showell at lrxms.net>
> > Reply-To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > Subject: Re: I swear to tell the truth,
> >
> > What amazes the hell out of me is that if the sighted folk of the world
only
> > gave some though to the matter, they'd probably agree that editing a
file is
> > considerably faster then any gui. Not to mention keyboard access can out
run
> > a mouse clicking any day...that's a proven fact. <grin> Oh how I love
these
> > discussions. Did I mention that do to windows the adverage employee is
> > producing less? Afterall all that crashing and rebooting reduces output
> > don't you think??
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 01, 2002 at 07:48:43PM -0400, Igor Gueths wrote:
> > > Hi Cecil and all. An example. I was using War Ftpd on my Winblows
> > > laptop. It uses Unix style permissions for file access. Only problem
is
> > that the gui makes it extremely difficult to set file permissions, and
very
> > hard to tell to what exactly you are setting those permissions to. In
Linux,
> > all you have to do is edit a config file, and that's it! A process that
> > should take 1 or 2 minutes, took me about three hours because of the
f-ing
> > gui!
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Cecil H. Whitley <cwhitley at ec.rr.com>
> > > To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 6:57 PM
> > > Subject: Re: I swear to tell the truth,
> > >
> > >
> > > > Okay, okay just one more and I might shut up.....
> > > > Blind people need a GUI.  Isn't that the real msg?  Why doesn't he
> > > > give them the real story?  Text mode os's are accessable to a degree
> > > > that a GUI will never be by their very nature.
> > > >
> > > > Cecil, stater of the obvious.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
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> > >
> >
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> >
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