Fw: I swear to tell the truth

Sat May 4 14:53:23 EDT 2002

Shortly after his testimony was submitted, Bill Gates himself took the stand singing the same tune. But, since he was on
the stand, plaintiff's counsel was able to get him to admit that Microsoft already sells multiple versions of Windows.

My objection to his testimony has nothing to do with whether or not linux is better. It has to do with all the things I
see in it which I regard as inaccurate, misleading, and distorted. To read this testimony one might think that Henter
and Microsoft invented assistive technology between them. Of course, that isn't true.

On Thu, 2 May 2002, Igor Gueths wrote:

> This is the reply that I got from Chris H. 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Chris Hofstader <ChrisH at Freedomscientific.com>
> To: 'Igor Gueths' <igueths at attbi.com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 5:32 PM
> Subject: RE: I swear to tell the truth
> 
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > My testimony was purely to the points that I did not want to see multiple
> > versions of Windows kicking around.  To make JAWS and our other products, we
> > need to remain narrowly focused on testing on a single version of the OS.   
> > 
> > I agree entirely that an increasingly large number of companies are using
> > Linux.  The vast majority of our new users are people getting a job for the
> > first time.  People with limited skills and education do not get jobs as
> > sysadmins or working in a server farm.  Many of our users work in call
> > centers with Windows based data entry screens.  Others in more professional
> > environments lean toward jobs in health care, law and a vast array of
> > non-technical positions where their companies have standardized on Windows.
> > Sadly, guidance counselors in many parts of the US have steered blind people
> > away from the technical professions as engineering skills aren't valued too
> > highly by special education programs.
> > 
> > No where in my testimony do I make any claims on the quality or
> > standardization of Linux or other open source projects.  I do state that
> > there are many good accessibility aids for the Linux OS but that they depend
> > upon the work of volunteers.  Microsoft has a large team of paid full time
> > staffers working exclusively on AT projects.  I wish the people who make
> > money on Linux distributions would commit a reasonable level of resources to
> > the cause.
> > 
> > I don't need to be convinced of the value of open source projects or of the
> > Linux OS.  I just don't want Microsoft's products to be made open source.  I
> > understand how the dynamics of the Windows world works.  An open source
> > Internet Explorer would not be published with the GNU General Public License
> > but, rather, it would permit distribution of modified executables without
> > requiring the source code to be shared.  Thus, many variants of IE would
> > turn up with a variety of levels of accessibility built in.
> > 
> > I was simply addressing reality.  Most blind people don't have jobs (75% or
> > so) this is the problem we need to solve today.  My own background has seen
> > me as a strong advocate of Project GNU and as a co-founder of the LPF.  I
> > still stand behind those efforts as well as I do my testimony.
> > 
> > Thanks for writing,
> > cdh
> > 
> >    
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Igor Gueths [mailto:igueths at attbi.com] 
> > Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 5:01 PM
> > To: ChrisH at freedomscientific.com
> > Cc: speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > Subject: I swear to tell the truth
> > 
> > 
> > Hi Chris. As you can probably see, I am from the Speakup list. I am an
> > active user of the Linux operating system, however I still rely on Win for
> > some things, but am increasingly switching to Linux. Following the posting
> > of your testimony to this mailing list, one person commented on the fact
> > that Win98 especially, is unstable, therefore it will reduce output from a
> > company because of crashes and/or rebooting. This is why I use Linux. It is
> > a much more stable environment. I would also like to comment on your
> > statement about Win being the most used OS in most companies. I believe that
> > this highly depends on what job you take. For example, a lot of companies
> > are now using Linux especially in their server architecture. So if you got a
> > job there, you could very well find yourself working at a Debian Gnu Linux
> > 2.2 or later system, Slackware, or Redhat. I also feel that it is necessary
> > to comment on bugs in programs. Most Windows programs that I have used have
> > a lot of bugs in them. As a result, they usually crash, giving some invalid
> > page fault in some module, usually within the application. If you report the
> > problem to the vendor of the product, I have found that the response is that
> > "We are currently looking into this problem."
> > 
> >     They don't attempt to put fixes up for the bugs, and as a result you
> > have to wait for the next upgrade. Then you possibly have to pay full price
> > for the upgrade, and this can get rather annoying after a while. In my
> > opinion, this is a case of developers making money off of software bugs, and
> > purposefully coding buggy, untested software so it can get to market
> > quicker. This is where Linux andthe OSDN become superior.
> > 
> >     You report a bug, and a patch for the program can come back to you
> > within hours, not days. The developers have the code in front of them, a
> > well as the end user. In other words, if the end user has knolige in C/C++,
> > and the program happens to be written in either of these two languages, the
> > user can very well modify the software to fit his/her needs, and also fixing
> > the bug (s). 
> > 
> >     I also believe that your statement about open source programs being of
> > different versions because different developers are working on them is
> > wrong. This is where Cvs comes in. I'm not sure if you are familiar with
> > this, it is a system which manages and tracks all versions of your programs.
> > Once a developer which is working on the program submits his modified
> > sourcecode with the new changelog, then it is there for other developers to
> > download and work on and then recommit the code with their changes. In this
> > way, there is no mistake about version information and features. 
> > 
> >     A lot of people from this list have been putting their two-sense in
> > regarding your testimony. I just felt that I should sum up the opinions and
> > include mine in as well.
> > 
> > Regards, Igor and Speakup Mailing List
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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