-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sun, Apr 25, 2004 at 08:13:14PM -0400, Ann Parsons wrote: > Hi all, > > Good post, Saqib. You're absolutely right. What is being obscured > here is the effect of the product upon the community. Here are some > hard, cold facts, folks. > > One: Microsoft has a strangle hold on any mainstream employment > possibilities for the blind. Any mainstream company is going to be > using Windows and Windows software for its employees. This means that > those who are lucky enough to get jobs, the thirty percent of us that > is, will have to use Windows unless you are in a situation where you > run your own busines, or you don't have a mainstream job or you are > unemployed. > > Two: This means that FB has got to market itself to the 70% of the > blind community which doesn't need Windows or at least doesn't need a > Windows Browser. > > Three: The problem with marketing to this segment of the population > is that there isn't enough money to rub two gold coins together. > > So, what has got to happen is that the product has to be marketed to > The Whole Community, as much of the population as can possibly be. In > other words, you've got to use universal design and design something > that is going to appeal to many people. > > If FB were assured of a stable, large, enthusiastic market, then > releasing the code might not be such an issue. <sigh> Let's see if > we can help and not hinder this project. How can we help the project if we don't have the code to play with/make improvements upon? My message wasn't to tell the company that they did a bad job with their browser (granted there are some bugs that can be fixed in a later version), rather it was to somehow encourage peer review. And releasing the code is a way to do it. Can you clarify on "helping the project?" It sure works better than > MSIE with either JFW or WE! And you're right, Igor, Gnome isn't ready > for prime-time yet. <smile> Maybe this here browser's existence will > spur them onto complete their task. > > Ann P. > > -- > Ann K. Parsons > email: akp at eznet.net > WEB SITE: http://home.eznet.net/~akp > "All that is gold does not glitter. > Not all those who wander are lost." JRRT > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup - -- Failure is not an option, it comes bundled with your Microsoft product. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAjFovNohoaf1zXJMRAuL5AJ9xAjSbmz4I5VZ4UIDxWQtSyz1s1QCfQ0oM zJiSNY8YcbzVPbi5WzUA2u0= =toGQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
