Re: [g-a-devel] Standardization and Interoperability Statement of Intent

[Peter Korn <Peter Korn Sun COM>]

Hi Olaf,

I've a couple of quick points re: your message...

> The intention of KDE is clearly to move AT-SPI onto D-BUS. GNOME might then 
> either choose to also move to DBUS by reimplementing ATK and the Java 
> Accessibility API, or to help us write a bridge between the two variants of 
> AT-SPI instead.
>
> At the FSG Accessibility meeting in Hawaii last January, we discussed possible 
> obstacles to a DBUS approach, and the only objection left was that it is 
> currently not in wide enough use to know how stable it is. My impression 
> using older versions of AT-SPI was that it was also not really stable, but I 
> don't know whether this was a problem with the RPC or with the assistive 
> technologies. Anyway, Bill and Peter assured me that the vast majority of 
> these problem have been fixed in recent months.

Many problems have been fixed, and things are a lot more stable.  But I am not 
ready to say "the vast majority" have been fixed.

As far as DBUS obstacles... I don't want to try to speak for Bill here.  For 
me, I want to see an implementation working in DBUS (even if just a prototype) 
before commiting to it.  CORBA is not without its shortcomings, and DBUS is a 
rising star.  But given all the many things we still need to do, moving away 
from CORBA and to DBUS right now doesn't feel like a wise investment of time. 
 However, if others want to work on that now and can clearly demonstrate that 
the potential problems with DBUS for AT-SPI are solved, then GREAT!


Regards,

Peter Korn
Sun Accessibility team