Hello Petro,
As a staunch accessibility advocate, I nevertheless continue to support
your
efforts and those of Applian to be as accessible as possible. I do hope
Applian has brought up the access issues with Conduit in hopes of making
things better in the future. Let's not throw the proverbial baby out
with
the bathwater, everyone... :-)
Please visit http://BlindWebAccess.com and sign the petition asking
Yahoo!
to make their CAPTCHA accessible!
Darrell Shandrow - Accessibility Evangelist
Information should be accessible to us without need of translation by
another person.
Blind Access Journal blog and podcast: http://www.blindaccessjournal.com
Check out high quality telecommunications services at http://ld.net/?nu7i
----- Original Message -----
From: <petrakigianos-giasou@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <blindreplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 5:05 AM
Subject: [blindreplay] Re: Freecorder 2 & Freecorder Toolbar Scripts
Wanted
Hi
Do not give me a lecture or speech on this. I know what is going
on with Blind issues and software accessibility. You guys get up
and write to Conduit Corp and tell them you want the software to
be more accessible for the blind. It's up to you all to put your
energy into all this. I have done my part all I can and if you
do not believe me ask Applian Technologies.
In the press releases I sent to the blind replay list there was
information on how to contact the Conduit company.
It's time you and others do some educating other software
companies on making their software accessible. Applian is a very
small company from what I know here and they have tried their
very best when it comes to accessibility. Try getting someone at
Freedom Scientific and GW Micro to help small companies like
Applian Technologies to learn to make their software accessible.
Sorry but I have an opinion here too.
Petro
--- Kelly Pierce <kellytalk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Petro,
You seem to be highly comfortable with the response that
Applian uses
third-party contractors for various components of its software
business and
therefore has no responsibility to its customers for the
performance of
these components, which in our case is the accessibility of
Applian
software. In the past decade and a half, the blind community
and
disability community as a whole have totally and completely
rejected this
buck passing. First the major software companies, including
Microsoft,
Real Networks, and Adobe have been expected from the get go to
provide full
access to their software, regardless of how it was developed.
next, folks engaged the country's largest financial
institutions to create
access to banking services. The banks worked with vendors,
contractors and
service providers to deliver talking ATM's for the blind and
accessible
websites. These efforts led to the first legally binding
settlement
agreements that committed to web accessibility for people with
disabilities.
The bank projects were followed by initiatives on cell phone
accessibility.
the issue was that the wireless service providers passed the
buck to the
handset manufacturers. yet, the manufacturing companies said
that they
designed phones with significant input from the providers who
would largely
market and sell the phones. The arrangement was hardly that
of an
impartial, arms-length party just purchasing goods in the
marketplace,
passing the hot potato of access back to the wireless
providers.
The efforts led to a 2004 agreement by Audio and Verizon
Communications to
design, manufacture, market and sell a cell phone accessible
to the blind
with audio-enabled controls.
similarly, people with disabilities expected accessibility of
voting
machines in the United States during the last election cycle
during the
2006 elections. Software and control devices for some
machines were
developed or designed at some of the voting machine companies
by foreign
subsidiaries or third party vendors. Local election officials
facilitated
relationships with the various parties to obtain and
significantly improve
access, allowing voters with certain kinds of disabilities to
vote
independently for the first time.
I realize that the large companies often have complex and
many-layered
relationships with their vendors and contractors. A vendor
may develop or
provide access to a product or service to prevent the
institution from
developing a relationship with another vendor who can provide
access and
possibly a whole lot more. The large companies can leverage
these
relationships to obtain consideration from vendors that
smaller companies
can't.
all of this being said, it is highly disappointing that we
seem to accept
wholesale Applian's response regarding access issues with
their products.
They don't explain why access issues could not have been
written into the
contracts or agreements they have with their vendors. It is
not clear if
the company raised these issues in a meaningful manner early
on in the
relationship with the third party vendor or if it was an
afterthought once
the work was completed.
In various areas of technology access for more than a decade,
people with
disabilities have worked with companies to achieve greater
independence in
their lives through technology. the third-party contractor
argument has
not been accepted by disability leaders who have worked on
access in
various sectors in the technology industry. In a similar way
it has also
been rejected by the mainstream as well. Wednesday's Wall
Street Journal
ran a lengthy page one investigation of how the largest
retailers and
apparel makers in the United States are responsible for
incredible
pollution in China for demanding ever lower prices, leading
contractors to
pollute the environment to save money. there was no
suggestion that gap,
Target, Nike, and the like had no responsibility because they
used a third
party vendor.
Applian's shoulder shrugging and subsequent finger pointing to
a
third-party vender isn't a constructive response to developing
accessible
solutions. it is unclear why the company cannot incorporate
accessible
design into their relationships with these vendors or if they
have even
asked about it at the start of their relationship. I don't
believe at this
time why our expectations for access should be relaxed at this
time when
other organizations have been able to develop systems and
approaches around
these same issues. the end result has been access that we all
now use and
enjoy.
Kelly
----- Original Message -----
From: <petrakigianos-giasou@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pc-audio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <blindreplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <blind-vista@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:28 PM
Subject: [blindreplay] Freecorder 2 & Freecorder Toolbar
Scripts Wanted
> Hi Brian & All
> I want Jaws scripts for both Freecorder 2 which does record
> Skype calls but as you already know Brian this program needs
> scripts for the product key and some other minor issues I've
> already told you privately.
>
> As for Freecorder Toolbar 3 program it would be great to
have
> Jaws scripts for this program too. Scripts for the toolbar
> buttons. Today I noticed something new in my toolbar called
the
> Digg It! button. I have written to Applian to make sure
about
> this new Digg It! button appearance within the toolbar.
>
> This toolbar is made by Conduit and not by Applian. It's an
> Israeli company.
>
> I think the reason I am seeing this new Digg It! is during
the
> Freecorder Toolbar 3 installation on the Conduit screen I
left
> the checkbox enabled to allow for automatic updates checked.
Not
> sure as I am asking Applian.
>
> I am just a user of Applian Technologies products and check
for
> accessibility. If the software is made by Applian they can
> sometimes fix the issue but if it's from a 3rd party that
> usually is difficult. Remember the YouSendIt plug in issue.
The
> developers from YSI wrote to me 2 times and I never heard
from
> them again.
>
> Thank you very much.
> Petro
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