SSB Technologies and Java Accessibility

Kelly-

Pursuant to Dave's earlier e-mail to the list, here is a detailed technical
description of the problem.  The problems with the installer revolve around
ZeroG, which has yet to implement the appropriate APIs, and package the
necessary libraries with their software.

External to that, Java itself has some versioning latencies revolving around
the Access Bridge, which affects all applications written in Java.
Specifically the defacto Java Runtime Environment currently in use is
version 1.3.  However the Java access bridge currently only works with
version 1.2.2 (or 1.1.8) of the Java Runtime Environment.  As such the
ability of the industry to produce accessible Java applications depends on
Sun, and their ability to produce the new version of the Java access bridge.
This should not be interperted as an attack on Sun: they have taken a
leadership role in accessibility.  However, realistically we should all be
aware of the time lapse between the newest technology and accessible
versions thereof.

Our programs do fully implement the Java Accessibility API and provide for
full keyboard control of the programs.  Fundamental in our production of
software is the ability to make our applications accessible to all users.
As such while there are some external constraints, know that our software's
accessibility is of paramount importance to us.  It is something we have
worked hard on and will continue to do so in the future.

TimS

Received on Thursday, 5 October 2000 14:51:24 UTC