Re: [orca-list] The new Hypra website

[kendell clark <coffeekingms gmail com>]

hi

I agree with burt. I'm a lot more inclined to use and promote free and 
open source software, and the idea of a "blindness" company turns my 
stomach. Not that I'm saying hypra is one, just that I've had such bad 
experiences with companies like humanware, freedom scientific, etc that 
publically say they're trying to make the lives of their customers 
better when all they're actually doing is trying to turn a profit at our 
expense. If that weren't true, they'd open source this stuff. Make it 
royalty free, so that anyone, not just windows and apple and the popular 
options, can benefit. They'd make their products hardware specs and 
schematics open, and they'd release open hardware designs for things 
like braille displays, braille keyboards, and the like. Before I get 
jumped on for not being supportive of proprietary options, I'm not 
against them exactly, but I am against the expectation that you should 
use them. If a person has to use windows to do their job or because 
there is no good linux or open source alternative for some thing they 
want to do, that's one thing, and can't be helped. But to actively 
discourage use of the open source alternatives just because you don't 
use them, that's not ok with me and will very quickly enrage me. I'm 
going into rant mode so I'll shut up. Support this non free ocr engine 
if you must, but try your best to either get that engine open sourced or 
improve the open source ones so that they're as good as or better than 
this nonfree engine. This goes for synthesizers such as espeak as well. 
If we cling to the nonfree options because they're easier and never put 
the work into improving the open source stuff, it's not going to improve 
itself.

Thanks

Kendell Clark



On 08/26/2016 09:24 PM, B. Henry wrote:
> The problem is for now.
> I agree that as much as is practical we should always base work on FOS products and services, software, and 
> systems, but some people must have something
> that works well enough for them today, not in a month, much less in 6 months or a couple of years, or when it 
> happens, and someone must make the effort to
> help them as well.
> Some people can choose to not take on a project or job if it forces them to use non-free stuph, but others 
> can not reasonably make that choice, or must use
> something non-free for now so that they become economically and or professionally stable enough to make other 
> decisions in the future.
> I am not trying to get in to a debate, nor say that there is a right or better way to live and or compute 
> that fits all users and situations, just saying
> that I aplaud the project for making a nonfree OCR engine available for those who need it.
> I think the people involved will choose FOS whenever possible from what little I know of them and their 
> values and wishes, and for the record that is what
> I would most like to see, and I will support and promote the project more if that is the case.
> Anyway, I say thank you for your work  with the Hypra  Project, and for organizing your team to make Linux 
> computing more accessible for blind and low
> vision folks.
>