On Sep 24, 2006, at 11:56 PM, Abdul Kamara wrote:
Apple will not
ensure that it's operating system is accessible to us, much less
its flag
ship applications and that
I'm assuming you meant to say Apple will not ensure that [remaining
portions of the OS not already made accessible] will not be made
accessible?
And is it the operating system that is not generally accessible or do
we have a number of applications (including some flagship apps) which
have not been updated to take full advantage of VoiceOver/
Accessibility API? I realize, in practice, this might seem an
incidental distinction...but the distinction matters in the context
of this particular discussion.
making excuses for its glacial pace is counter
productive.
Glacial compared to what though? i.e. what's the benchmark? Since the
API-based, OS-integrated accessibility approach is a first I'm not
sure what you're comparing to. If you are making a scientific
comparison your method (and its specifics) would be a very valuable
thing to share as it could help establish some reasonable timelines/
expectations for continued accessibility development of/on the Mac
OS. This, of course, would be much better than expectations which are
arbitrary, culturally motivated, or based on what we know generally
of software development cycles. In making comparisons, establishing
some reasonable timelines...it would also seem we might want to
distinguish between various types of development. I'm not sure it's
reasonable to lump all of Mac OS accessibility into a single "Apple
ensuring it's OS is accessible to us" category. We have application
development (both Apple and third parties) which must occur and there
are also the VO/OS adjustments which would occur separately, be
completed by different teams, have different dependencies (both
business and technical), etc.
Finally, respectfully, you seem to be taking a particularly dire view
of the current state of accessibility on the Mac and its future. I do
think you have explained more or less why you don't personally feel
particularly encouraged (understatement) by Apple's accessibility
efforts. If there is confusion about your few postings I think that
confusion is rooted in a mostly collective failure to understand what
you intend...what is motivating your postings? Are you telling the
community that not enough is being done and the community must be
more vocal? Are you trying to motivate legal action? An explanation
of what it is you are hoping to accomplish would likely clear up some
of the confusion and help the slower folks like me catch up.
Joe
