Charley: It really is different in linux, not so much because it's linux, though that helps a lot, but more because it's open source. Not everything produced for linux is open source, but the vast majority is. In fact, open source is the ethos of the linux community. This includes X apps. So, if there's something that needs a tweak because blind people can't use it the way it is, we are able to make that tweak. We needn't ask permission. We needn't beg someone else to put us in their priorities. We can simply open the source in our favorite editor and fix the code. This kind of activity is not frowned on, as it is in Microsoft environs, it is welcomed and encouraged. To learn more about this approach to software go to: http://www.fsf.org Please note that major commercial entities, such as Sun Microsystems, have bought into this approach. Check out: http://www.gnome.org/projects/gap http://www.openoffice.org What I am about to say should not be taken personally. Over and over, we have seen discussions such as the one currently at hand. People come to linux from years of struggles with DOS (which is remembered fondly these days, though it wasn't necessarily friendly either), and Windows (which we have somewhat conquered but still leaves us unsatisfied). We are like immigrants in a new land. Our old land didn't offer us 72 varieties of soap at the grocery store--we were lucky to get any soap at all. So, like immigrants who simply can't understand why there are 72 varieties of soap on the shelf, we don't understand the variety and variability inherent in open source environs. Still, we come because we are unsatisfied. So, consider that your linux experience, at the absolute worst, will be a tremendous learning experience--like a cultural exchange. At best, it may just feel like you've been set free in the world of information. Free at last. What will not serve you in this new land are all the old ideas and strategies of coping. This is not Windows, and it isn't even DOS. It's different--very different. Those rules don't apply here. So, you will be confused if you try to interact in the old familiar ways. What is required, rather, is a new attitude. Suspend what you know about Windows and DOS and learn. I know this isn't easy, but it is the path to understanding. On Sat, 25 Aug 2001, Charles Crawford wrote: > Gregory and all, > > Thanks for the note about the ability to keep the text of Linux up despite > the growing Xwindows. I really do hope that continues since I am a bit gun > shy after seeing Microsoft slowly killing DOS. As I understand it, you > can't boot in DOS anymore and I am not even sure the apps will work in the > new Xp. More tragic in the DOS world is the cintinuing loss of speech > products for the environment where older speech hardware can't even be > installed. So we truly have to not only see Linux for what it is now, but > we must also make sure it remains a place for blind folks to still do our > thing with an operating system as powerful as it is. > > -- charlie Crawford. > > > -- charlie Crawford. > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina at afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper, Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.asp Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp Learn how to make accessible software at http://www.afb.org/accessapp.asp
