I know next to nothing about the NFB and ACB, and I could've sworn there was an AFB in there somewhere, but unless one organization is hoarding resources for their own members, refuse to let members be part of other organizations, or abuse IP law to the point only those willing to jump through their hoops can benefit, I'm not sure what the problem is with multiple organizations opporating in the same arena and pursueing differing goals. After all, the more choices one has, the better the chances of finding something that works for their own needs.
Sure, someone working to improve screen reading on the Linux Desktop might be better off contributing to Orca than trying to produce their own screen reader, and someone interested in improving screen reading in Windows would probably be better off contributing to NVDA or even applying for a job at Freedom Scientific than trying to create another screen reader for Windows, but with how vastly different Windows and Linux are as ecosystems, cooperation between the two sides might not offer any tangible benefit not already provided by NVDA and Orca both being open source. And even within the same ecosystem, speech and braille are two completely different beasts, so not only could cooperation between a speech developer and a braille developer not benefit either side, trying to integrate their efforts into a single program that does both braille and speech might just lead to something that's harder to maintain than a pair of separate, single-purpose programs. Actually, I think that just might be a practical example of the wisdom behind the Unix Philosophy of "Do one thing and do it well". As for competing standards, when you only have a few competing standards and one is clearly superior to the others(e.g. Blu-Ray vs HD DVD), often the superior standard kills the inferior standard unless the inferior standard has overwhelming backing of big business or the government or is so much cheaper people over look it's inferiority. However, when you have many standards in near perfect competition, trying to introduce a new standard to replace them all often results in just adding another standard to the list. Consider the various document, image, audio, and video formats in common usage for storing stuff digitally and how they tend to be an eclectic mix of formats that have been around for decades and formats that popped up in the last few years, and how the older formats aren't limited just to files that have been circulating for years. Honestly, it's a small miracle HDMI became the one standard to rule them all instead of ending up with as many HD video connectors as there are different SD Video connectors, and I'd say the same of USB if it wasn't a single all-purpose standard replacing a multitude of single purpose standards. -- Sincerely, Jeffery Wright President Emeritus, Nu Nu Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa. Former Secretary, Student Government Association, College of the Albemarle. _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list