Solaris 10 released, with accessibility built-in! Also FreeTTS 1.2 released.

[Peter Korn <peter korn sun com>]

The Sun Accessibility team is utterly delighted to announce:

   - Solaris 10, with a rich set of accessibility features and included
     assistive technologies, is now shipping and available for immediate
     web download for both SPARC and x86/x64 architectures.  Solaris is
     the premier UNIX operating system from Sun Microsystems, favored by
     customers for mission critical environments.  Among the many new
     features in Solaris 10 release is the GNOME graphical desktop with
     accessibility support built-in.  Solaris 10 accessibility features
     include: complete mouseless access to the desktop; theming support
     with high contrast and large print themes; a collection of keyboard
     accessibility features including StickyKeys, MouseKeys, BounceKeys,
     SlowKeys, and ToggleKeys; a full-featured screen reader and
     screen magnifier with Braille access; a powerful dynamic on-screen
     keyboard with many features no other on-screen keyboard can provide.
     With Solaris 10, accessibility support can be configured for use even
     at the login screen, so users with disabilities can have their theme
     or assistive technology working before they log into the system!
     Solaris 10 also includes a rich collection of web and productivity
     applications such as Mozilla for web browsing, Evolution for e-mail
     and enterprise calendaring, and the StarOffice suite for word processing,
     spreadsheets, and presentation authoring - all of which fully support
     the GNOME accessibility architecture and included assistive technologies.

   - FreeTTS 1.2, the free, open source text-to-speech engine written in
     the Java programming language is now available.  FreeTTS partially
     supports the Java Speech API, and can be used and redistributed in
     Java and web-based applications.  FreeTTS ships with Solaris 10 and
     is used by the screen reader that comes with Solaris 10.


    The Solaris 10 Operating System
    -------------------------------
      Solaris is Sun's "enterprise-grade" UNIX operating system.  It runs
      on the SPARC line of 64-bit processors as well as x86 (and the
      new 64-bit editions of x86, known as "x64") processors.  Used both
      as a server operating system and for workstations, Solaris powers
      a large portion of the businesses on the Internet, and serves as
      the backbone of many companies' Information Technology systems.
      Solaris is an extremely scalable operating systems, capable of
      running systems with one microprocessor to systems with over
      100 microprocessors.

      Solaris 10 includes a host of new features, most of which aren't
      available in any other operating system.  The new features include:
      DTrace - a comprehensive dynamic tracing framework for troubleshooting
      systemic problems in real time; Solaris Containers which allows you
      to turn one computer into multiple virtual computers; ZFS - the
      zettabyte file system which is a next generation self-healing,
      self-managing 128-bit file system; and dramatically increased
      network performance.

      In addition to the powerful, base operating system features noted
      above, Solaris 10 includes a rich graphical desktop with a large
      collection of productivity applications.  Solaris 10 includes the
      Java Desktop System - a graphical desktop based on the open source
      GNOME environment - with a number of key additions from Sun.
      The Solaris 10 desktop includes StarOffice 7, a powerful productivity
      suite with a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation package
      that can read and write Microsoft file formats.  Also included with
      Solaris 10 is the Mozilla web browser, and the Evolution e-mail and
      enterprise calendaring application.

      With this release, Solaris is now also a very accessible operating
      system!  The Java Desktop System release 3 - the recommended graphical
      desktop that is part of Solaris 10 - provides a tremendous amount of
      support for users with disabilities.  Accessibility support in Solaris
      10 includes:

       - complete keyboard operability of all supported applications and
         functions on the desktop.  This of course includes the productivity
         applications in Solaris 10 like StarOffice and Mozilla and Evolution,
         and of course all of the Java applications.  This means that people
         with a range of mild physical impairments can operate Solaris 10.

       - the collection of keyboard enhancements pioneered by the TRACE
         Center - StickyKeys, MouseKeys, BounceKeys, etc. This functionality
         allows people with a variety of mild to medium physical impairments
         to operate Solaris 10 (e.g. hand tremors from Parkinson's disease).

       - a themable desktop with support for a range of desktop themes. These
         include for accessibility: High Contrast, High Contrast Inverse,
         and Large Print themes.  And of course the supported graphical
         applications in the Java Desktop System respect these themes
         (including Staroffice, Mozilla, Evolution, and all of the Java
         applications).  This allows people with a range of mild vision
         impairments to operate Solaris 10.

       - a full-featured, commercial quality screen reader and screen
         magnifier.  Unlike the very limited screen reader and screen
         magnifier shipping on other desktops, the one in Solaris 10
         works with all of the supported graphical applications in the
         Java Desktop System - you can use them to browse the web and
         edit documents and spreadsheets and presentations and read
         your e-mail and track your calendar.  Solaris 10 is also the
         first graphical desktop to interoperate with Braille displays,
         out of the box!  This allows people who are legally blind - or
         completely blind - or even deaf-blind! - to operate Solaris 10.

       - an industry leading on-screen keyboard which reaches inside running
         applications and dynamically builds "keyboards" to rapidly interact
         with every supported graphical applications in the Java Desktop
         System.  This functionality goes far beyond anything available
         on other graphical desktops - either bundled with or purchased
         commercially - and offers *dramatic* speed improvements to people
         with significant physical disabilities.   The on-screen keyboard in
         Solaris 10 monitors what you are doing with applications, and
         offers immediate access to things like the menu system, toolbars,
         hyperlinks, and the controls in dialog boxes.  Of course it also
         includes a range of optimized alphanumeric keyboards with word
         completion.  The Solaris 10 on-screen keyboard can be driven by
         a wide array of access methods (including automatic scanning with
         switch selection, dwell selection with a head pointer, and of course
         direct selection). This allows people with a range of severe physical
         impairments (including quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, multiple
         sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and ALS) to operate Solaris 10!

      The accessibility features of Solaris 10 can be used not just only at
      the graphical desktop - but from the moment the user begins to log
      into the system!  Once configured for accessible login, a Solaris
      10 system will invoke the screen reader or magnifier, or on-screen
      keyboard with a simple gesture from the user - even before they have
      authenticated themselves.  Users can also have a Large Print login
      screen if they desire it, or choose any other included accessibility
      theme.  Of course the accessible login screen is also fully keyboard
      operable, and the TRACE suite of keyboard enhancements can be enabled
      there as well.


      Sun is making Solaris 10 source code available under the Common
      Development and Distribution License, an open source license recognized
      by the Open Source Initiative.  In addition, all of the accessibility
      work developed by Sun for Solaris 10 has been contributed back to the
      GNOME, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, Evolution, and X communities under their
      respective open source licenses.

      You can download Solaris 10 for SPARC or x86/x64 processors at:

        http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp

      View the Solaris 10 Accessibility Guide at:

        http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-7307

      View a more lengthy description of the Solaris 10 accessibility
      features, complete with links to pictures of much of the accessibility
      functionality, at:

        http://blogs.sun.com/korn/20050209#solaris_10_another_first_for



    FreeTTS 1.2
    -----------
      FreeTTS is the free, open source text-to-speech engine written in
      the Java programming language.  FreeTTS is based upon Flite, a small,
      fast, run-time speech synthesis engine, which in turn is based upon
      University of Edinburgh's Festival Speech Synthesis System and Carnegie
      Mellon University's FestVox project.  The FreeTTS package includes two
      English languages voices, a limited domain English language voice,
      support for importing a variety of other voices developed elsewhere.

      FreeTTS supports the MBROLA family of voices (developed under a
      European Union initiative and free for non-commercial and non-military
      use), and also the new ARCTIC high-quality unit selection voices.

      FreeTTS partially implements the Java Speech API, and can be used with
      gnome-speech and the Gnopernicus screen reader/magnifier in Solaris and
      GNU/Linux.



On behalf of the Sun Microsystems,

Peter Korn
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
http://www.sun.com/access