I normally prefer computer desktop based applications as well for the reasons you listed. In addition to your data disappearing or not being available, I am concerned that they can make an interface change overnight which is no longer accessible! Of course, cloud computing has its advantages of available, sharing / social interaction and automatic backup.
I was originally astounded by the statement as well! Since I agree this counteracts what I thought was the the purpose of the statement! Accessibility should apply to web applications as well. Ideally, it would be a personal choice whether to use web or computer applications for each task. Evidently, Microsoft has changed it's corporate mind since Bill stepped down. They are attempting to move to the clouds as well as the desktop and mobile. I am not sure they can do it all!
Don Marang -------------------------------------------------- From: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 12:23 PM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
Hi,I don't disagree and wanted the statement removed but it is a GNU statement and must, therefore, it needs to reflect the fundamentals of FSF.Also, people with disabilities need privacy more so than others as everything from insurance premiums to potential lawsuits may cause problems when and if someone gets access to their information. Remember, a person with disability will cost more to insure so companies may be reluctant to hire them for that reason alone.If asked about this statement, though, we can point to Bill Gates who, in a COMDEX keynote address a bunch of years ago, he made a strong statement against server based programs, citing a value of putting computes in the hands of the individual and also raising privacy concerns.Also, there are people in jail in China because Yahoo turned over records stored on their servers. Why not expect that the US security infrastructure would be following all transactions on Skype, MSN, etc. giving them a lot of information into which they can cast a wide net.There's a lot of problems with server based systems ranging from privacy to a centralized data bank that can be mined for all sorts of reasons.Lastly, there is the question of who controls your computing and your data. Local systems put you in charge while who knows what google might do with or to your information.Of course, I could be wrong. cdh On Mar 27, 2010, at 11:03 AM, Sina Bahram wrote:The following statement really got to me:"and please don't invite users to do something on a server that they could conceivably do on their own computers."I understand that Stallmann is one of the leading activists against cloud computing, but why on earth are you allowing such anagenda to creap into a statement on accessibility?In my opinion, this one statement completely undermines the rest of the things you're trying to do.Take care, Sina -----Original Message-----From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris HofstaderSent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 9:00 AM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: GNU Accessibility Statement Online Hi,For a couple of months, Richard Stallman and I have been working on the GNU Accessibility Statement (GAS) which takes a no nonsense approach to endorsing the rights of people with disabilities as regard software within the context of free software. I've never read a more strongly worded statement from any organization regarding software and people with disabilities.GAS also takes a strong stance on free software values but does not endorse any specific license, although we would like people touse GPL.You can read the statement at: http://www.gnu.org/accessibility/accessibility.html and send comments to me that we can consider for future revisions of the statement.Thanks, cdh __________View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
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