Re: [g-a-devel] Status of IBM a11y

[Bill Haneman <gnome billhaneman ie>]

Henrik Nilsen Omma wrote:
> Ariel Rios wrote:
>   
> > > I am not very familiar with the ATK/AT-SPI implementations but I am
> > > aware that these implementations are not compatible with the KDE
> > > architecture, and a general move to DBUS has been often mentioned.
> > > The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initative could be the opportunity to
> > > implement ATK / AT-SPI over DBUS and finaly offer a general solution.
> > >     
> > >       
> > Please be aware that moving into dbus might be a very hard task.
> > Currently GNOME has a working a11y architecture while KDE has none. Do
> > we want to move to an non existant architecture from one that works
> > actually really well?
> >
> >   
> >     
>
> That is the risk of moving things forward.
>
> Maintaining functionality on top of an aging framework that everyone 
> else is migrating away from (seeing this in a 5 year perspective, say) 
> will also be hard. The difference is there is no real reward from that 
> kind of effort.
>   
In the 5-year timeframe I think a move to dbus makes sense. However, to 
do this, dbus needs to grow. If these sorts of extensions to dbus are 
deemed undesirable by the dbus team, another technology could of course 
be considered.

To reply to Ariel (and to Janina, who replied later on), I think the key 
here is not to move to a "non existant" or sub-optimal solution, but 
instead to move to a mature framework which supports all of AT-SPI's 
important features. As it stands now, this implies changes not only to 
AT-SPI but to dbus.

The big issue is finding resources/people with the right mix of time and 
expertise to bridge the gaps, while keeping the existing technology up 
and running during the transition period. I feel that it's technically 
possible, but it's also important that the migration be done with an eye 
to the big picture, to avoid disrupting the "currently existing" 
framework and minimize inconvenience to existing ATs and end-users.

Best regards,

Bill
> Henrik
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