Hi Gordon and Will,
Let me create a scenario for you to hopefully give you a better idea of
what Apple is up against. What if Apple made a public statement that
displays X, Y, and Z would be supported in Leopard. Then, Gordon, you
went out and bought display Y for yourself. Something goes wrong in the
development of Leopard. It could be something as simple as the
manufacturer of display Y made significant changes to how their display
communicates with a computer, or something else. And when Leopard was
released, display Y was no longer on the supported list. You'd be
peeved...probably a lot more than peeved.
The Windows screen readers being public about what they support doesn't
hold much water. Those screen readers have been around for a long time
and support a lot of legacy hardware. If they make announcements about
additional displays they will support, it may only be one or two, not a
dozen or however many Apple ends up supporting officially. This is the
first time Leopard will, presumably, support Braille output. Apple has
to tread carefully in case anything goes wrong, or risk upsetting customers.
I know first hand the enormous backlash you can get from customers in
these kinds of situations. Is it disappointing? Sure. I wish Apple would
go ahead and announce more things. But it isn't company policy, and
their company policy is a wise one.
