Charley: One more point ... And I really did mean to put it into a separate message ... It's important to recognize that it's the license that gives us our access, not the OS. It's not Linux, and even less is it Unix, that makes this environment superior. It's the four freedoms in the GPL. That's why we must protect the GPL license terms above all. On Mon, 29 Jul 2002, Charles Crawford wrote: > But how long will it be before the text apps start fading away? More > importantly, looks like we are in for the same kind of war whee blind folks > are at risk at work because the new Linux distribution has graphics not > done with Gnome? This is a serious problem because there are so many > distrobutions out there and I get very nervous about once employers get > Linux, they want to use graphics and if the graphic programs do not have > the ability work with the text ones? > > Someone please tell me I am being an alarmist? > > -- charlie. > > At 01:06 PM 7/29/02 -0400, you wrote: > >Hi. Well, it is in any operating systems best interrests financially to go > >to a graphical user interface. The answer is simpl. > >The sited world simply can't use there computers without a mouse. You give > >them a computer without a mouse, and they will stair at it in dumb wonder, > >and will exclame that they can't use it. > > > >I just fixed a laidies Windows 98 computer the other day. Her mouse got > >screwed up, and that was it. She didn't know how to access the start menu, > >shutdown her computer, and basically absolutely zip. > > > >That is why some distributions like Mandrake Linux are designing around the > >gui, and leaving off some text programs. To us it sounds mordifying, but to > >the sighted world that is great, and they buy it, and Mandrake is happy, the > >buyers our happy, and business is booming. > >To Mandrake's credit the profetional additions include a wide range of both > >text and graphical which makes everyone happy. > > > > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > _______________________________________________ > 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
