Re: [orca-list] Off topic discussions

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

> If I ever write on this list to ask about adding a feature to Orca, 
> and I
> know of that feature because I found it in JAWS, I'm sure going to 
> mention
> JAWS in my message.  We don't need to avoid the W-word or the J-word to
> avoid engaging in philosophical or technical battles that belong 
> elsewhere.

I believe it's OK to mention Windows and JAWS.  I don't mind, as long 
as the request is not "do this because JAWS does it that way and that's 
what I'm used to.  period."  Those requests are not helpful, IMO.  I 
also try to avoid the "us vs. them" mentality.  I'd rather spend my 
energy on getting low cost compelling solutions to the user than 
wasting time on some senseless religious battle.

So, when a feature request comes in, I want something like: "I'm trying 
to accomplish task X and wish there were some feature Y that let me do 
this.  As a comparison, a feature that JAWS provides for this is Z."  
We can then explore more ideas about how you might accomplish task X 
and come up with ways to do so efficiently.  If it ends up being 
something similar to feature Z and we can figure out a way to do it in 
Orca, so be it.

Note that a good task description is related to what you are trying to 
accomplish in your daily activities, such as editing a document, 
filling out a form on a web page, managing your music collection, etc.  
Once it is better understood what you're trying to accomplish, we can 
work on features in Orca.

Will