Re: [orca-list] Different desktop environments

[Jason White <jason jasonjgw net>]

Alex Midence <alex midence gmail com> wrote:
> I'm fond of Emacspeak and I like the console but, I would be seriously
> inconvenienced if I had to do without a full-featured desktop system.
> There are some things that are just easier to do in that environment.
> Word processing, presentation creation, listening to music .. Some
> stuff is just less of a headache to do with Gnome than in cli.  

I can't agree here. For the first two, there's TeX/LaTeX and Emacs AUCTeX
mode. This environment is better than any word processor, past or present.
There are good scripts and tools for audio file handling as well, which
addresse the third point.

I don't want to enter into a disagreement about this any further, on or off
the list - the above comments are simply intended to substantiate my point
earlier in the thread and to establish that I have reasons for making such
remarks.

If you prefer a GUI desktop, that's your choice, of course, but (for those who
need non-visual access), GUI desktops are not where Linux has a technical
advantage over other operating systems. If I wanted to work primarily in a GUI
environment, I'd probably run something else, given the current state of X11
desktop environment accessibility.

On the other hand, if I suddenly had to edit a document collaboratively with a
word processor user, I would be able to use LibreOffice under Linux with some
degree of accessibility. That doesn't make me like word processors, but at
least there's one available should the need arise - and there are people who
really do need an office suite for one reason or another (mostly file format
compatibility). That's why I care about its accessibility, even though it's
not what I would choose to use outside of exceptional circumstances such as
the aforementioned collaborative editing scenario.

I am very glad, though, that I wrote my Ph.D. thesis in LaTeX, using Emacs as
the editor, Git for revision control, and BibLaTeX to handle the
bibliographical references.

This is off-topic for the list, so I'll stop here.