New Linux PDA For Blind People

[Scott Howell]

I can't help, but jump in here because although I understand what  
everyone is saying, its what I'm reading.

What I hear folks saying is that adaptive technology vendors charge  
to much for their products, I read how Apple there are no choices,  
folks don't like the choices, and open source seems to be the poop.
Well first I never had any problem with someone making a buck, yes  
its true that blind people pay considerably more for the product, but  
one the flip side there is a lot of r and d that goes into some of  
these products. I'm not justifying what they are charging, but I'm  
saying lets not loose focus. Not everyone wants to develop open  
source solution, and those who do, great, for those who would rather  
turn it into a business, well good for them and that is their right.  
It doesn't matter what they charge, by having choices, this will help  
control the prices to some degree because if company A is charging  
$1,000 for a product and company B is selling a very similar product  
for $750, then it would become apparent to Company A that maybe they  
need to look at their pricing. Also its true that most adaptive  
vendors sell fewer units than the "mainstream" vendor so it stand s  
to reason they need to charge more in order to make up for the  
smaller sales. Is this right? Well maybe not, but its a fact of life  
and survival. You can put food on the table if your only selling a  
dozen units at $100 when a "mainstream" vendor sells a product for  
the same $100, but is selling thousands. I guess my point is that the  
reallity and the fairness don't meet. I'm not disagreeing with  
anyone, bu trying to present another view point. I am equally  
frustrated by what is costs for some of the adaptive gear like a  
braille display, but I also realize that since they cost more than I  
choose to spend, I don't own one.
As far as Apple's VoiceOver, I use it everyday and quite  
successfully. There is no other choice because no one has stepped up  
to the plate and produced one. It stands to reason there is more for  
the world of windows because numbers speak for themselves. I think  
there's a lot for Linux because folks made the concious choice to  
produce their own screen reader and yeah open source made this  
possible. This topic really is rather complicated because there's so  
many different aspects to it. There is no one answer, but at least  
now there are more than one pda or access solution for the computer  
overall and that is a good thing. Oh one final comment. Apple might  
have requirements that developers should follow in order to make  
their apps accessible, but gee so does Microsoft with MSAA. Not all  
apps use this of course, but the screen readers for windows are years  
ahead of VoiceOver and VoiceOver has only been around for a short  
time in comparison. What will make a difference regardless of what  
platform or screen reader you choose to use is the level of interest  
in the screen reader and the level of development and these directly  
related.
So, there's my quarters worth on the topic even if a bit lenghty...grin

Scott