Re: Credible rumor that deserves serious consideration, IMHO

  • From: Kerneels Roos <kerneels@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:14:52 +0200

 Hi Everyone,
I read some blogs on the recent Oracle World and Java One conference held by Oracle. It seems they are, as we expected, a much more business savvy company than Sun was. The former Java One confernces were very much developer minded, while the recent one presented by Oracle gave the indication that they are far more business minded and are working strategically towards set goals.
Very interesting development is their plans for MySQL which they apparently also own now, in particular their plans to develop very nice user interfaces for managing MySQL databases so that there will be greater adoption of it in the Windows + Visual Studio world. Their ideal would be to have MySQL integrate directly with Visual Studio, but I'm digressing...
Since Oracle wants to make profit mostly (or only) and maintain a nice public profile, it would be up to the stake holders in Java Accessibility to convince them that it is indeed in their best interest to give it a high priority. If by reasoning about it we can come to the conclusion that there is no real advantage for them in investing in furthering Java Accessibility then another route needs to be perseued. Such another route might be an open source development of the JAB, a third party development of the JAB.
We want access to be free, but if for a small price you could get an up to date JAB that makes Java extremely accessible then that is better than the alternative of no, or out dated access.
I believe that if one can convince a company nicely that accessibility is important then they will do a good job at it, as aposed to it being a legally enforced thing, or a pressured thing. I agree with another person on this list, think it was Tylor, that asking people nicely to change their web sites RE accessible captchas for example is far better than screaming at them over email. All the more so if you can give them food for thought in terms of numbers.
If it's a better idea to have foundations for the blind interacting with Oracle about this then we as the community need to first approach our local and international foundations. There is so much that can be done, like pettitions, fund raising, awareness, pressure from the general public, pressure from M$, pressure from their clients that are far removed from accessibility issues but that do have a morral concions.
Java is a great language to program in if you are blind due to it's verbose nature and well thought out standard libraries. Oracle's plans (to my best judgement) for Java is long but over. They are also planning more JDK releases by spreading future features over the various releases. On top of that, there are millions of lines of legacy Java that will have to be maintained for many years to come, so a career as a Java Programmer will remain a good choice for blind programmers regardless, but it would be so much better if it is certain that Oracle will strive to improve Java accessibility onwards. 

So what would be the next step?

Regards,
Kerneels


On 10/11/2010 3:11 AM, Stanzel, Susan - Kansas City, MO wrote:

Hi Listers,

I have not stepped into this until now. I would hope that needing government 
contracts in the United States would have some affect on all this. I have asked 
people about swing and I am told it isn't used very much because there is newer 
technology out there. I am not an experienced Java programmer so maybe the rest 
of you will know more than I do. I know we use Struts at my building for 
creation of web projects. If I have just made a fool of myself, it's not the 
first time and won't be the last. (grin).

Susie Stanzel

-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of The Elf
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 7:08 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Credible rumor that deserves serious consideration, IMHO

hey, this is my usual line, "beat them into submission" lol

or hound,or pummel,  or...

elf
Moderator, Blind Access Help
Owner: Alacorn Computer Enterprises
Specialists in customized computers and peripherals
- own the might and majesty of a Alacorn!
www.alacorncomputer.com
proprietor, The Grab Bag,
for blind computer users and programmers
http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sina Bahram"<sbahram@xxxxxxxxx>
To:<programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 10:14 AM
Subject: RE: Credible rumor that deserves serious consideration, IMHO



Wow, it only took like 15 emails on the subject, but finally the voice of
reason has made itself known.

Ken, I completely agree. Now is the time to pressure them into actually
not abandoning it.

Take care,
Sina

________________________________

From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ken Perry
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 1:10 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Credible rumor that deserves serious consideration, IMHO



If this is true then it's not time to tell people to stay away.  It's time
to get people to get active and start emailing and
calling them till they do support it.  If we stay away we lose what
accessibility was there.



Ken





From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Storm Dragon
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 11:09 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Credible rumor that deserves serious consideration, IMHO



Hi,
I would not doubt it for one second. They dropped the ball on Linux
accessibility pretty much first thing when they took over Sun.
It's probably a good idea, if you have influence over software decisions,
to encourage companies, clients, and friends to stay far
far away from Oracle and their software. I was even going to get rid of
Open Office but fortunately the version used in Ubuntu is a
fork so not subject to them. unless, that is, they somehow manage to win
their evil attack on Google. If that happens, who knows who
they will attack next. Keep your fingers crossed, and maybe the open
source community will keep the Bridge going, Orca is still
alive and well after all.
Storm

--


Registered Linux user number 508465:
http://counter.li.org/
My blog, Thoughts of a Dragon:
http://www.stormdragon.us/
Get yourself a Frostbox:
http://www.frostbitesystems.com/


On Sat, 2010-10-09 at 08:15 +0530, prateek aggarwal wrote:


oh know,
i wish its just a rumor.
if its ever going to be true, i'll be so said.

regards,
prateek agarwal.



On 10/9/10, Jamal Mazrui<empower@xxxxxxxxx>  wrote:

I heard from a good source today that Oracle has decided to discontinue
support for the Java Access Bridge (and no alternative is planned).  I
would be glad to be convinced otherwise.  If anyone has information
regarding this topic, please share.

Jamal

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--
Kerneels Roos
Cell: +27 (0)82 309 1998
Skype: cornelis.roos

"Common Sense" is not "Common Practice" .

"The Strawberry Jam Law:
  The wider you spread it, the thinner it gets..."
   -- from the Java Specialist Newsletter, from a book on consulting.

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