Re: getting orca included in gnome 2.16

[Janina Sajka <janina rednote net>]

Henrik Nilsen Omma writes:
> Janina Sajka wrote:
> >Mike Pedersen writes:
> >  
> >>We have been informed, however, that there can be only one screen
> >>reader/magnifier in the GNOME desktop.
> >>
> >>    
> >That's a rather outrageous attitude. Who made that decision?
> >
> >Are they also prepared to have only one web browser? ONly one media
> >player? ONly one word processor? Only one email client application?
> >  
> I think you may have misinterpreted this slightly. The idea is that 
> there will only be one official screen reader in Gnome, as there indeed 
> is only one email client (Evolution), one browser (Epiphany), one office 
> suite (gnome office, using abiword and gnumeric). Distributions can, and 
> do, change these defaults and users can install a whole range of options.
> 
So, it seems I have misunderstood the policy quite thoroughly. I
apologize for that. I am not sure the policy of having only one of a
kind makes much sense to me, but I certainly do not find discrimination in such
a policy when it's even handidly applied across the board.

> In Ubuntu we include Firefox instead of Epiphany, OpenOffice instead of 
> Gnome Office, etc. I see no problems with that. Currently we have 
> Gnopernicus installed by default and Orca as an option. For our next 
> release we will likely change that so that Orca becomes the default and 
> Gnopernicus the option. We still package and support a wide range of 
> options beyond that though and we are actively working on several new 
> accessibility tools from scratch.


Yes, those are accessibility friendly substitutions, and Ubuntu is to be
commended for this.

> >Frankly, it's an insult. This kind of grudging support for accessibility 
> >needs to be stopped right now. In fact, it's a stretch to even call it 
> >"support."
> >  
> This may be true in some areas of the open source world still, that 
> accessibility is an afterthought, but we are working to improve that. An 
> important factor in becoming better at this is learning to collaborate 
> better and work together on common tools. Choice is good in principle, 
> but the price of fragmented effort can be high.

Indeed so, especially in edge cases such as AT apps On the other hand AT
on the Linux GUI is still fairly new, and what approaches will prove
truly successful for the user is still to be seen.. We certainly do need
to work on cooperation and collaboration, but I suspect we're stronger
if we support the option for alternative approaches. I suspect, for
instance, that accessibility on the desktop is enhanced because KDE and
Gnome were able to agree on the same messaging SPI, while continuing to
remain autonomous and distinctive desktops.

> 
> Finally, I think you are complaining the wrong audience here (various 
> accessibility lists). All these people are already on your side. If you 
> want to make this complaint it should go to the main developer lists of 
> gnome, redhat, ubuntu, etc. Though that said, I do actually think that 
> gnome is right in their policy on this.

While I apologize for seeing injustice where there clearly isn't any, I
still remain unconvinced that an "only one of a kind" policy is the smarter policy. Different
issue, of course. 

Janina

> 
> Henrik Omma
> Ubuntu Accessibility Coordinator
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnome-accessibility-list mailing list
> gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-list

-- 

Janina Sajka				Phone: +1.240.715.1272
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