I think comments like the one quoted from the article are a hoot. After all, the main reason I am interested in learning linux is that I won't be at the mercy of self-serving meglomaniacs trying to tell me my ONLY options are the the soundcards and screenreading programs with thousand dollar pricetags that they and ONLY they can sell me. Possibly the biggest problem in putting together a system for someone who is visually impaired is getting legitimate unbiased consumer information, and sadly, the shouting contest as sales pitch does work on some people while learning to disregard the disinformation. I went through this in the early nineties when I wanted to put together my first Windows machine, and had to deal with everyone from my Commission for the Blind agency, whose idea of adaptive tech was what they read in the pretty brochures they got sent, to my blind friends who kept telling me a Windows system would never be worth the trouble for a blind computer user. The blind computer user is like every other computer user, stuck between big business tactics and the basic laziness of most consumers who don't do their homework, and the corporations know it. It's like a race: keep your mind on the goal and ignore the extraneous noise. Also, keeping a box of salt --take 2 grains with every hardware/software review you read--helps too. Trying to keep a sense of outrage balanced with a sense of humor, Yours, kestrell "...it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
