linux and accessibility applications

[Gene Collins]

Hi Chris.  My comments were not ment to be secretive.  I just wasn't
aware of what the author's feelings were about discussing his project
publicly.  But I have spoken with him about it and he has no problem
about making information about his project public.  Open source doesn't
mean you have a right to know evry thing with out the consent of the
person working on the project.

Having said that, and having gotten his permission, Kirk has a grad
student who is working on incorporating a java script library in to
lynx, the cat.  It is no where near being ready for testing, and when or
if it ever will be, remains to be seen.  But knowing Kirk, if there is a
way to make it work, I'm sure he eventually will.

You may have noticed that most software developers are unwilling to
commit to release date deadlines.  The reason for that is that they just
can't predict what problems they will encounter, and how long it will
take to solve them, or whether they can even be solved.  Linux
developers are no different.  You are right that I should have gotten
Kirks permission before saying anything at all.  As I said, my comments
were not ment to be secretive in nature, and now you know as much as I
do.

Open source does not give you a God given right to know the nitty gritty
details about every thing.  If Kirk had decided he didn't want the fact
that he has a student working on the project known, I would have
cheerfully ignored your message.  Try consideration for others when you
decide to make unfounded accusations, since you seem to know all about
other people's motives.  Just because you think you have a right to
know, doesn't mean that you do, but then you already knew that didn't
you?

Gene

>My vote is for text-based apps with the GUI as a last resort.
>Unfortunately, blind people in the working world are more often than not
>forced to cope with GUI even where text-based alternatives exist.  
>
>What hasn't been mentioned is that we have good access to console apps with
>speakup, brltty and/or emacspeak which are all FREE programs.  Contrast
>this with the commercial windows screen reader which costs more than your
>computer or speech synthesizer.  
>
>While I haven't played with it, IBM's home page reader may be the most cost
>effective solution for a blind person who wants to ONLY surf the net and
>send email.
>
>I think we're all interested in javascript as it relates to web browsing.
>I'm puzzled to see the comment about javascript development cloaked in
>secrecy.  If this is to be a commercial product, I can understand, but this
>is supposed to be an open environment where ideas and advice are shared.
>
>Chris
>
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