Hi Greg and all,
I must say that I am rather perplexed about the comments made
concerning Freedom's willingness to work with Apple, and,
especially the comments concerning Jonathan MOSEN.. Why? Well,
Mr. Mosen has been a friend of mine for several years now and
both while working for Humanware and now for Freedom has made it
very clear to me, as a Mac user, there was no interest by either
company to do anything with Apple because the "user-base is so
small". At the convention of the American Council of the Blind,
held the first week of this month, I had lunch with Mr. MOSEN.
where we discussed Freedom's future involvement with Apple. He
said that Freedom did a "once-a-year check" to assess if they had
any cause to become involved with Apple and according to their
evaluation they saw none.
We had a rather heated discussion about, what I see, as nothing
less than an arrogant attitude taken by Freedomcccct of the big
boy on the block who has nothing to worry about, safe and snug in
the bed of its reputation and "user-base". He did not share my
opinion, but instead saw Apple as a company who forsook the
blindness community in regards to accessibility and called them
the "enemy" of the blind. He was worried that Freedom would have
anything to do with Apple and saw that relationship as a
negative, not a positive.
My apologies if my remarks cause any offence, but I have been a
Mac user since 1987 and for as long as I have been acquainted
with Freedom, asking them to look at issues of compatibility I
have experienced only attitudes of snobbery. Even so far as a
vendor laughing, asking me, "Why in the world would you every
want to use a Mac"?
Please, let it be stated here, very clearly, that my remarks are
NOT meant as an personal attack on Jonathan, not at all! My
intentions here are simply to communicate to a somewhat private
list my concern for mixed messages we are getting from vendors
whom I am not exactly certain have a real intention of doing
anything other than pacifying those of us who are making some
much needed noise. I do not think this is appropriate behavior;
it is akin to being strung along in an uncertain relationship. I
think it behooves us to hold their feet to the fire, to not
settle in to a position of contentment by their answer and
sitting and waiting. I think we need to make it clear we are
just as viable a "user-base" as those who choose to use a
different platform.
The reasoning of third party companies seems to be that of a
ferris-wheel that does not stop to let anyone else on. "The
user-base is too small". Well, how can it get larger if you will
do nothing to include the needs of that small user-base, enabling
more people to join it? It's a difficult circle to get a secure
vendor to open and let others in.
With sincere and concerned regards,
Cheryl
