I would agree with those taking issue with the NFB. It scares me that so many
organizations in the US take the NFB's word as speaking for the whole "blind"
population, (which the NFB loves to refer to as "the blind." Unfortunately,
they are taking credit in some cases for their lawsuit "making apple address
accessibility." Then they turn around and kick Apple in the teeth with
inaccurate reviews knocking Apple's effort. Quite frankly, they scare me.
Sorry for my soapbox addition to this. But it's hard for me to stay out of a
discussion regarding a group that tries to take credit for everything good that
happens and sometimes tries to "save the world" for the population they
lovingly call "the blind."
This is just one more reason for me to champion for Apple who isn't doing
anything but leveling the playing field for all.
Thank you Mr. Jobbs, and all of you brilliant engineers at Apple.
Carolyn
----- Original Message -----
From: Kaare Dehard
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:40 AM
Subject: Re: What do you think?
Rob, we like worms. because of the shift in availability of screen readers,
and a lot of them coming at no charge in the apple product line, this sort of
thing comes up more often than would be liked. Some of the people that would
like to keep their special status feel it necessary to make the waters mirky.
We really don't mind providing our thoughts and perspectives on these sort of
things.
On 2010-04-15, at 3:31 AM, Rob Lambert wrote:
I apologize if I opened a can of worms.
On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 12:30 AM, Anne Robertson <a...@anarchie.org.uk>
wrote:
Hello Nic,
Thank you for this post. You've just saved me from going on a major rant
along the same lines.
Cheers,
Anne
On Apr 15, 2010, at 9:14 AM, Nicolai Svendsen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I seriously doubt that is the case. Apple accessibility has been around
for six years now, not three. I doubt NFB had anything to do with it. Apple is
going to keep it up because they are committed. The article about the lawsuit
doesn't actually mention Apple much.
>
> There is actually a very good point of view. Apple poses a threat to
the NFB of taking over the technical market. This is why NFB did not sue Skype,
but Apple. Agreement or not, I'm pretty sure they listened to users using
Outspoken and such, rather than an organization that can't even review the
product properly when it is out. Apple has done far more than anyone for
accessibility improvements. Apple said they had something in store, and they
sure did. I of course realize that it is a pretty serious statement. Of course,
I am not particularly a fan of the NFB at all. Saying that, NFB has made some
seriously inaccurate statements as well, far outweighing mine. NFB actually has
no reason to sue Apple. What would they sue them for, exactly? Because their
products are accessible, and they want everyone to pay more than what a Macbook
costs for assistive technology? That wouldn't actually surprise me much. It's
all about competition. If they think they're about to be kicked out, of course
they would consider Apple a threat. Because Apple has done something Microsoft
has not. All these things sound really twisted and disgusting to me.
>
> Apple can hardly be sued for their effort. Their lawsuit had to do with
iTunes on the Windows side. Fair enough, but that is a pretty ridiculous suit
if it really is based on accessibility. That is not the case, however, as there
are plenty of other useful programs for PCs that are not anywhere near as
accessible as iTunes 9. And NFB doesn't care about that. Which, again, leads me
to believe that, because NFB is scared of being kicked out, they do everything
they can to stop people buying their product. That would make sense.
>
> Windows users rely on scripts all the time to use any application. I
suggest you look through your jAWS folder to see what I mean. Have you even
seen just the download size of a JAWS installation? It's outrageous. People who
moan about iTunes not being accessible just because the interface accidentally
broke, just need to use scripts like they do for everything else. I'm surprised
that wasn't their first complaint. JAWS, or just Windows in general, isn't even
that stable. If JAWS crashes, it's stupidly difficult most of the time to
reload the product. Even if you manage to do so, you will probably run into the
screen not being read correctly when reading list boxes or with the cursor. Or,
the worst-case scenario. You have to uninstall JAWS 11 after attempting to
install Video Intercept, reinstall JAWS 10, install VIdeo Intercept, uninstall
JAWS 10 then reinstall JAWS 11.
>
> Maybe I'm slamming the NFB a bit, but really, they need a kick in the
ass. I'm just happy the Danish blindness organizations are not this corrupt and
twisted, and they actually review fairly and take a proper look at what a
company offers before suing them. I'll always be negative about the NFB, though
I am actually being neutral when talking about the actual lawsuit itself.
>
> Say what you want to, it won't change my mind. Even if it is someone
from NFB saying it. Some NFB people are great. Some do incredibly good reviews.
Some don't. And in whole, I think the organization just sucks for filing
unnecessary lawsuits for nothing. Maybe I'm going on a childish tantrum here,
perhaps. But once in a while, you need to. A company is trying to provide great
accessibility for their products, and they are sued because of one problem.
iTunes is actually still useful on the Windows side, people. Quit your darn
nitpicking.
>
> Regards,
> Nic
> Skype: Kvalme
> MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk
> AIM: cincinster
> yahoo Messenger: cin368
> Facebook Profile
> My Twitter
>
> On Apr 15, 2010, at 8:08 AM, Rob Lambert wrote:
>
>> I just got wind, from a friend of mine, that the only reason Apple is
accessible to us is because of a lawsuit by the NFB. The term of the agreement
was for accessibility improvements for three years. Here's a question. First,
what's your side of this ordeal? Second, who thinks Apple will keep up with the
accessibility improvements after this three year term is up? I apologize for
making smooth waters mirky, I just wanted to know what your take on this was.
>>
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