Hi, List, Just wanted to drop in and say goodbye before unsubscribing. I need to reduce the amount of e-mail that comes into my inbox. I'm on quite a few lists these days and I need to pear down those which I don't frequent much or that don't really do much for me. I initially joined this list to help others with information as much as I could (like anyone else) and provide feedback on accessibility issues with Ubuntu and to stay informed on what was going on in this area with Ubuntu proper. I use Vinux which is based on this distribution when I'm not using Debian propper. I'm selecting this list for elimination, however, because my energies and attention seem better focused on the Vinux project since it's a lot more likely to have matters I specifically care about addressed more quickly there than here. For instance:
Emacspeak: The Ubuntu repositories are still stuck at version 29 but the thing's up to 35 now. I don't know how many years out of date it is and response to suggestions to update it have been ignored or discounted. QT accessibility: A new release of the qt-at-spi bridge has been announced which, while I'm sure does work optimally with qt 4.8, will undoubtedly have *some* improvements with the current version of QT. There are users interested in having it in Ubuntu to improve the accessible experience to apps they wish to use and they are being made to wait a full quarter to do so. The developers of the bridge and those of QT are working hard to fix a long standing issue, have asked for people to try out their software and the user of Ubuntu itself will be unable to help in this endeavor because packages will not be made available for months in which people could be using it and providing them with feedback. Infrequent updates to at-spi2: Lots of work is being done on this package and (I could be wrong) but, it doesn't appear that the latest accessibility fixes are being brought in as they come about. This is unfortunate since this impacts the very ability to use the system for those who use technologies that rely on at-spi and who would like to benefit from the improved user experience they might enjoy with more recent copies of it made easily available. Speech in the console: Many applications are not yet usable with Orca in an efficient manner causing one to turn to Speakup, something Linus torvalds himself saw fit to put into the kernel itself but which cannot be accessed easily in Ubuntu due to the way in which sound is configured to work in Ubuntu propper and will probably be configured in it for the foreseeable future in spite of the expertise being available to make things happen to fix this situation. I'm sure there are others like musicians and such who might like to have sound work in the console in a secure fashion but who will also not be able to get this to happen unless they are prepared to run Pulse system wide or are versed in complex procedures to bring this about. This is unfortunate since Ubuntu prides itself on ease of use. All of these issues have been or are being addressed with vinux so thither shall I go and thither shall I stay. I definitely respect that a distribution has to address the needs of everyone equally and can't cater to those of a small group of people every time. However, I think that some of these issues, the at-spi2 and the qt-at-spi in particular, are fundamentally important because they impact the very ability to use the system for someone. I firmly believe those should be made available as soon as they can be to the current distribution and even backported as far as possible for the benefit of users who are still making use of prior versions of Ubuntu but who would like these enhancements to improve their user experience without the need to expend the time-consuming effort of updating their entire system. The packages in question are few and they are not very big. Why not improve their availaibility? I was under the impression that addressing this sort of thing was what this list would do but, I fear I misinterpreted its purpose. I wrote this rather lengthy e-mail in hopes that I did not mistake its reason for being and that it would serve as a reason to those who are in charge of it to reassess what direction it's heading and the value it provides to some of us. Thanks and apologies for the length of the e-mail. Alex M -- Ubuntu-accessibility mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-accessibility
