Re: Accessible Flash

On Tue, 5 Mar 2002, Joe Clark wrote:

> >>I use a Macintosh and it is bad enough not being able to see many 
> >>websites because they are coded for the Microsoft users of this 
> >>world.

and our whole office is Linux/Unix (not to mention Linux at home)
> 
> I don't know what you're talking about. HTML is HTML. You can even 

and movies are movies, but some are captioned/described  HTML is about as
close to universal as you can get but it still takes an OS to interpert
the signals and operate the access software

> Care to name five different sites you cannot use *at all* on a 
> Macintosh? I suppose Java applets could be examples, but that's a 
> stretch.

I don't know about that but I can name hundreds that won't work on text to
speech browsers

> >>So, should I buy a new PC with all the latest kit just so I can 
> >>'see' this latest and greatest Flash website? I think not, and I 
> >>don't think that I should be forced into doing so.
> 
> Unbeknownst to you, Microsoft actually *has* a system-wide 

that is MS system wide, try it on any other OS

> I know for a fact that Macromedia *wants* to make accessible Flash 
> work cross-platform, but faced with the task of writing its own 
> access infrastructure on Mac, they *wisely* opted to take the easy 
> path first. Get the thing working on one platform and then worry 
> about making it cross-platform.

or more likely there is less profit in Unix/Linux/BSD/Mac/etc
and to get the MS code you have to sign away your rights to building
anything cross platform

> >>While I think that Macromedia is doing the right thing in 
> >>addressing accessibility of its multimedia software and how it is 
> >>viewed, I guess that many would agree that this type of product 
> >>would be better if it incorporated all users, regardless of 
> >>hardware or software.
> 
> Flash is *already* platform-dependent. I suppose you want Macromedia 
> to also create Flash for DOS.

how about for something that is used in the business world, like Unix

> >>Ahem, excuse me! $795, plus the cost of Windows, plus the cost of 
> >>hardware capable of running windows! Not to mention the serious 
> >>hassle of mopping up each new "virus"!! How the **** is that 
> >>supposed to be "accessible" to any but a tiny minority of the 
> >>richest blind people?

or any company that has a large vested interest in a more flexible or job
specific OS

> Technology costs. Get used to it. And anyway, screen readers are 
> aimed at workplace use: JAWS technically stands for Job Access with 
> Speech. US$795 is affordable for many companies, and in any event is 
> deductible or depreciable.

well I work on one of the Open Source Software Access project (one of
many) and what we have avaliable so far is essentially no cost.

> Oh, but wait a sec-- you want the whole shebang (computer, operating 
> system, screen reader) to be free just because you're blind? How 
> amusing.

no but just because one is blind (or otherwise disabled) doesn't make em a
"mark" or sucker either

Bob


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Received on Tuesday, 5 March 2002 09:29:21 UTC