Re: Next steps on Open Komodo

But see that is the thing, there is more to an open source project than just getting technical with the code. The bugs we see with some of the open source software, needs to be reported. Blind people no matter how tech saavy they are can promote the software. They can show that they don't have to pay a bunch of money in order to use their computer. We as programmers ourselves can take a look at the software code and even if we don't fully understand it can make those little changes that we can where we can at least use it. People that are not programmers themselves but are familiar with the software can write tutorials on how to use it with a screen reader. Alot of things like that. I can sit here and in a day hear alot of the programmers on this list alone that can just blow my mind with the technical knowledge they have, but then hear them say "Oh but the software will never change for us". Open source software gives those programmers that chance to make the changes they want to see happen. Sites like source forge are a bit hard for screen reader users to get around in but not impossible. But yeah all of the pieces of software that we are in need of are out there it just takes a little work to get them to work the way we need them to. And in some cases they are also coming to us, asking what they need to do to make it work for us. So, my vote is instead of snarling at them, why not pay attention to what it is they are trying to do and help out where we can. 
JohnPG search for all of your Jaws scripts at http://www.blindcrawler.com/
Also be sure to check out Blind Crawler's Legend of the Green Dragon server at http://www.blindcrawler.com/lotg/ 
There will be more to come from Blind Crawler very soon.
Administrator: John Greer
Blind Crawler.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim" <jhomme1028@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: Next steps on Open Komodo



Hi,
One of the things a lot of people can't see is how they can contribute. They get the impression that the only people who are able to contribute are the very technical people. 

Jim
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----- Original Message ----- From: "John Greer" <jpgreer17@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:39 PM
Subject: Re: Next steps on Open Komodo
100 percent agreed. Sorry if I came across wrong to you. I feel that the amount of talent on this list alone could help the blind community in many ways if many understood what open source software was and how it can benefit the blind community as a whole. I recently started a little open source email list of my own but it kind of fell by the way side because I found that so many of the blind did not understand what open source software was. Many of them when they downloaded something like Audasity, expected it to be Adobe Audition or Sonar right out of the gate. I am assuming it is because the concept that the source code is available to download, modify and make it work for them is so new and foreign to what they have been shown. I was still able to see when Netscape made their browser open source and became Mozilla. I also must admit was not a big user of the Netscape browser, but have always followed the open source movement with interest. Now when I see companies like FS charging the blind community the prices they do for their software. Be it better software or not I am going to try my best to promote an alternative they can afford or even get for free. Frankly a majority of screen reader users are like many of the sighted users. What they do with their computer is browse the web, check email and burn an occasional CD. With the open source movement however, a screen reader may only do those now but later has the potential to do things that products like Jaws can only dream of. Yes, I am talking about NVDA and the Jaws supporters will be up in arms about it all. But the Jaws people need to realize that their software is too expensive to the masses. Even to people that can afford it. To the people that complain that open source software is crap, turn your computer off now because the software that is allowing you to receive this email, and serves the web to you is also an open source project. Some other bits of software that people may not even realize is open source is Python, php, My SQL, and even Perl. The list goes on, but the choice is up to the blind programmers in what they take away from what I have said. JohnPG search for all of your Jaws scripts at http://www.blindcrawler.com/ Also be sure to check out Blind Crawler's Legend of the Green Dragon server at http://www.blindcrawler.com/lotg/ 
There will be more to come from Blind Crawler very soon.
Administrator: John Greer
Blind Crawler.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Leventhal" <aaronlev@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 6:51 PM
Subject: Re: Next steps on Open Komodo



I agree that in general, that many large companies can do more.
But I also believe that the community itself can do more for itself. Wouldn't it be great to see more organization and activity from the community itself? Look at what's possible on the net today, with efforts like Wikipedia, Linux and Mozilla. I say lead by example, and take your fate into your own hands. Raise the bar for the big companies and show them what accessibility is. The knowledge is distributed but the action can be united. 

- Aaron
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