Re: OFF TOPIC - Shame on Google

John,

You are a reasonable, thoughtful individual in person, but this is  
list trolling.

I can't pretend to know what happened inside Google during to process  
to launch Chrome, but I can assure you that there are numerous people  
inside Google that care about accessibility, and history has shown  
that Google is willing to fix its bugs. At acknowledge the possibility  
that they may have wanted and attempted to make this product  
accessible, and just haven't been able to do so yet. I can also assure  
you that launching a first version software product can be extremely  
difficult, it is never perfect, and features always end up on the  
cutting room floor.

I say this because, while I share your concern for the accessibility  
of all products, your criticism is hardly objective or constructive.  
It not only evokes an aggressive tone that will hinder the probably of  
an honest, open response from the Google developers, it also  
perpetuates the stereotype that accessibility advocates are all  
crotchety jerks that don't understand or give heed the constraints of  
a realistic software development cycle.

You personally know *at least* two people at Google that have designed  
and built their own screen readers, and who take a very strong  
interest in making all of Google's products and the web at large more  
accessible. Why not interface with them to see how they or others are  
are helping to fix these issues, rather than attempt to embarrass  
their company and undermine their efforts to fix the problems from  
within.

James


On Sep 2, 2008, at 11:44 AM, John Foliot wrote:

> While we must acknowledge that Google has been scrambling since the  
> leak of
> their impending "Chrome" web browser, it is indeed truly sad that  
> the "comic
> book" they professionally produced and released on the web today
> (www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html) is nothing but a  
> series of
> images with, guess what - no alternative text at all.
>
> I guess page conformance really isn't that important after all, and  
> that
> Google's commitment to an accessible web is mostly just empty words,  
> as
> actions really do speak louder than pictures, uhm, I mean words.
>
> JF
>

Received on Tuesday, 2 September 2008 21:12:27 UTC