Re: [orca-list] contacting skype users

[Hermann <meinelisten onlinehome de>]

am Do 13. Mär 2008 um 09:51:02 schrieb Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com>:
> Hello,
> I don't see this as open source or not for whether to support software
> (skype in this case), my problem is to do with choice. I feel that the
> decissions which have been made by those responsible for skype limits
> choice, and it being closed source is just one of those (they could make
> it accessible and maintain it as closed source). I will go through some
> of these decissions now. If one of these had been taken differently more
> could be done and it might be worth supporting.
>
> The protocol isn't open: by doing this they haven't allowed any other
> clients to be made by other developers. 
> They don't have anyway for other systems such as SIP to connect: this
> combined with the first point means that if I want to communicate with
> someone who is using skype I must use the skype client.
> On linux skype is not accessible via at-spi (which I believe is becoming
> the standard AT API) or any other accessibility API widely used on
> linux: this means any solution which is made for orca isn't general to
> other access technologies, so the effort put in will give very little
> return value to accessibility, you will be purely linking only two
> applications, so not just limiting me to one client I will be limited to
> one screen reader! 

What's the difference between Skype and any KDE application? The problem 
here is not that Skype is not open source, but the limitation of Orca to 
a specific GUI and accessibility mechanism. And even Gnome apps are in 
most cases not really accessible, because each and every program has to 
be adjusted using AT-SPI etc.

> Skype I believe is not maiking any efforts to make skype more accessible
> on Linux: I understand that skype uses QT (I don't know whether version
> 3 or 4 which vary on quality of accessibility API (QT has its own
> accessibility API, but this doesn't work with the gnome one and at-spi))

And this is exactly the problem: How can we convince Linux developers to 
use accessibility mechanisms, when we cannot decide which one to use? 
This is a real disadvantage of open source, and I think we never can 
solve this, because this means to limit open source developers to use 
certain standards; and that's the opposit of open source.

> but as far as I know skype hasn't made any assistance with connecting
> QT's accessibility API to at-spi or making skype accessibility
> information available through other accessibility APIs such as the java
> accessibility API (like open office does for those platforms where it
> doesn't have a way to communicate to the specific platform accessibility
> API).

Why should they? Why should they take care of our disputes on different 
accessibility standards, and why is it teh problem of the Skype 
developers that we cannot decide to use one common standard for Linux? 
Under Windows all screen readers work more or less with Skype, so why not 
under Linux? Sorry to say this, but these are our short comings. Half a 
dozen GUIs, half a dozen solutions!

> Skype being closed source does not help with the above: as nobody other
> than official skype developers can see the source code to make any
> internal changes needed to make the skype client more accessible, we are
> limited to what we can do to improve things.
>
> Also are you aware that the list is set to reply to sender not to list?
 
This is the case since the list has started.
Hermann