Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online

  • From: Chris Hofstader <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:21:33 -0400

JAWS 11, like all JAWS releases, was posted in September. Using GAAP (generally 
accepted accounting principles - pronounce GAP), it is imperative that a 
company never show a year to year decrease in revenue in any given 
month/quarter. As September 30  is a "double witching hour" (end of month and 
quarter), FS must move the SMA dollars from liability (they owe everyone an 
upgrade) to asset (the users got their release so they can count the money as 
in the bank) goes directly to the valuation of the company - something quite 
important to the Kuwaitis who own the thing.

At least one blind JAWS developer quit over JAWS 10. He understood that it had 
to be shoved out the door in September but hoped that after the release he 
could go back and fix a number of quality problems he felt were important. The 
big boss said, "nada," and the team went onto other tasks. It hurts to work 
60-80 hour weeks to pump a release out the door that you can't have any pride 
in and even worse when you can't get quality remediation funded.

The guys who make the software (now dominated by sighted programmers) are 
really dedicated to doing the right thing but the big bosses are only willing 
to do the minimum to satisfy the investors and keep their bonuses coming.

A number of you know the guy who quit over his values, he's a great guy and 
busted his ass to make JAWS as good as he could in the role he was in. All of 
the JAWS user community loses when people like this fellow, Marco Zehe and 
others who did everything they could to make JAWS as good as they could leave 
the biz. It even hurts the overall screen reader user world as if FS doesn't 
keep pushing things in a positive direction, why would their competitors (free 
software and proprietary alike) be motivated to keep the state of the art 
rising into the future?  

cdh
    
On Mar 29, 2010, at 1:59 PM, Sina Bahram wrote:

> And good luck using the access bridge with a 64-bit jvm. It's supposedly  
> doable with a 32-bit jvm on 64-bit windows, but jaws 11
> doesn't support such a configuration
> 
> So NVDA supports my java access bridge setup on my windows 7 laptop, but jaws 
> falls flat on its face.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if jaws 11 actually improved anything?
> 
> Take care,
> Sina
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Homme, James
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:50 PM
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> 
> Hi,
> I tried to get that working, but failed miserably. It said that I had the 
> access bridge installed and that I had the OpenOffice
> software installed, but I couldn't get JAWS to read the menus and so on. So I 
> uninstalled the thing.
> 
> Jim
> 
> Jim Homme,
> Usability Services,
> Phone: 412-544-1810
> Skype: jim.homme
> Internal recipients,  Read my accessibility blog. Discuss accessibility here.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DaShiell, Jude T. 
> CIV NAVAIR
> 1490, 1, 26
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:24 PM
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> Importance: Low
> 
> Openoffice is available provided you can get java access bridge correctly 
> configured for it and you haven't got software
> installation restrictions.  That's had jaws accessibility for longer than it 
> had linux accessibility.  The openoffice.org software
> comes with the database so it'll be like getting the msoffice edition with 
> msaccess included.
> 
> 
> 
> Rot47: <;F56]52D9:6==@?2GJ]>:=>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Homme, James
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:17
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> 
> Hi Chris,
> What Gnu software can I now use on Windows to replace MS Office?
> 
> Jim
> 
> Jim Homme,
> Usability Services,
> Phone: 412-544-1810
> Skype: jim.homme
> Internal recipients,  Read my accessibility blog. Discuss accessibility here.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jim Dunleavy
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 11:55 AM
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> 
> Hi Chris,
> 
> I think the warning against server based applications should be retained in 
> some form.
> Some time ago, on this mailing list, there was strong criticism of the 
> RoboBraille service.
> The FSF has a more nuanced article about "cloud computing" at:
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html
> 
> --Jim
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Chris Hofstader <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 9:17 PM
> Subject: Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> 
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have spent most of the last nine months working on NPII. I think it
> is a
> very good idea and can be managed in a way that can preserve anonymity while 
> having some of its services running on a server. All
> software written by RTF/NPII will have a free software license (I think it 
> will be MIT) but third parties, including proprietary
> software vendors, can use our back end to augment their products.
>> 
>> The one problem with NPII is that it is a really big project and
> raising
> money to move it out of the discussion phase is an arduous process to say the 
> least.
>> 
>> As I said earlier, I'm collecting criticism and ideas for the next
> version
> of the GNU Accessibility Statement and appreciate the feedback.
>> 
>> So, I think we can say that this group would prefer the server based
> applications sentence be removed. Now, what do you guys think about 
> everything else in the statement?
>> 
>> cdh
>> On Mar 27, 2010, at 4:05 PM, qubit wrote:
>> 
>>> I didn't see much technical at that website -- just a general
> overview
> and
>>> FAQ and white paper.  But it is interesting.  I personally wonder if
> it
> is
>>> possible to do what they want -- I mean, leveling the playing field
> for
>>> everyone with a broad range of disabilities and still allow normal 
>>> competition in the software market -- I say this because different
> persons
>>> have different and sometimes conflicting needs, which would require 
>>> different support not just on the net infrastructure, but also in 
>>> applications.
>>> But it remains to be seen how successful this strategy will be.
>>> Are you a member?
>>> --le
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Cc: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:18 PM
>>> Subject: Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I agree that there are legitimate privacy concerns that one should 
>>> address when using web-based applications.  I also agree that, other 
>>> things being equal, it is better to get a computing job done
> locally,
>>> without needing an Internet connection.
>>> 
>>> I also think that cloud computing offers much potential for people
> with
>>> disabilities if managed well.  A coalition of individuals and 
>>> organizations in the accessibility field believes this to be the
> case,
>>> and has proposed a "National Public Inclusive Infrastructure"
> described
>>> at the web site
>>> http://npii.org/
>>> 
>>> Jamal
>>> 
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