I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)

Sat May 4 09:28:21 EDT 2002

You know as well as I do that linux isn't that far from where it was three
years ago.  I had a first-hand look, and a friend that used linux for a
while says it's not much different than what it was in his time.  Anyway,
what's wrong with paying for programs that work?  I've got a lot of programs
that I baught because they work, and don't crash like you guys say.  It
would be heven if you could just go onto microsoft's site and download the
lates windows upgrade, but that's just not true.  That's why linux is moving
so slowly: the people are writing it in there spare time, so it doesn't
exactly move as fast as it would if they got a profit out of it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Snow" <alex_snow at gmx.net>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: I swear to tell the truth, (fwd)


> 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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