Campaign for Ubuntu Accessibility [was "Re: Here it is...Ubuntu Phone"]

[B. Henry]

> Very good point. I am not sure that "shiny things" reffed mobile Ubuntu, and my first thought was not this; but even if a spiffier more polished graphical experience was what was being talked about your take is still valid. 
> There are probably some less than ideal moves being made at Canonical, but at least if and until someone in a position of power says that the choice was or is being made to prioritize some bell or whistle over accessibility it is both counter productive and unnecesarily antagonistic to include the "shiny things" bit in an otherwise good and important message.
> Regards,
> --
> B.H.
> 
>   
> On Sat, Jan 05, 2013 at 07:13:04AM -0600, Christopher Chaltain wrote:
> > Below, you mention that Canonical is throwing resources at shiny
> > things. I'm not sure if you're referring to Ubuntu for the phone as
> > a shiny thing or not, but if you are or that's what you're implying
> > then I'd suggest refraining from that in your push to get more
> > resources committed to Ubuntu's accessibility. Shiny things in this
> > context refer to frivolous waste of times, and I don't think
> > Canonical trying to get Ubuntu into the phone space is a shiny thing
> > in this sense. Remember, Canonical is a privately owned company that
> > is still trying to become profitable. Having Ubuntu run on more and
> > more platforms, phones, TV's, tablets, netbooks, laptops, desktops,
> > servers, clouds and so on is part of the strategy to create enough
> > revenue streams for Canonical to become profitable. Note that I
> > don't know that Canonical is actively working to have Ubuntu run on
> > all of those platforms or not; I'm just basing this assumption on
> > public comments from Canonical.
> > 
> > I think you make a lot of good points below, and I think this is a
> > laudable effort, I just don't think you serve your goals by implying
> > that something as significant as having Ubuntu run on smart phones
> > is somehow frivolous or trivial.
> > 
> > Note I also changed the subject line since this discussion seems to
> > be much broader than just the Ubuntu Phone OS announcement.
> > 
> > On 01/04/2013 10:50 PM, Nolan Darilek wrote:
> > >Here is Jono's announcement of Ubuntu for Phones:
> > >
> > >http://www.jonobacon.org/2013/01/02/announcing-ubuntu-for-phones/
> > >
> > >My comment there appears to still be around, but I find that under
> > >Ubuntu 12.10 I cannot arrow down the list of comments. Focus appears to
> > >bounce to the top. That isn't Canonical's fault I'm certain, but one
> > >would hope that a distribution that is changing so much about how we use
> > >our computers could afford to hire enough of an accessibility team to
> > >work on these types of issues.
> > >
> > >If people want to work on this then I'm happy to help. Quite honestly,
> > >I'm burning out on accessibility. I've used and have developed for
> > >Android since 1.6, when the accessibility situation there was barely
> > >tolerable, and even today I'm trying so hard to contribute to the
> > >Android accessibility ecosystem and am being snubbed by Google. I don't
> > >know what it is about accessibility and open source culture that makes
> > >it so hard for people to contribute. My girlfriend has CP, and she too
> > >wishes she could use Ubuntu but doesn't because of accessibility issues.
> > >I'm almost to the point of replacing my Ubuntu system with Windows just
> > >because I'm tired of battling with these access issues. I have a lot of
> > >respect for Canonical's small access team, but if Canonical just wishes
> > >to stick its head in the sand again and again, to throw a bunch of
> > >resources at shiny things while ignoring the disabled, then it will
> > >quickly become apparent that Linux for Human Beings *really* means Linux
> > >for Completely Able-bodied Human Beings. I understand that other
> > >distributions may not be accessible either, but that is no excuse for
> > >Canonical, Redhat, etc. to simply stand aside and let Linux become less
> > >accessibly relevant than Windows. It's sad that I enjoy using my
> > >VirtualBox Windows 7 install more than I do Ubuntu for many tasks, and
> > >is sad when accessibility developers ask me why I don't just abandon
> > >Linux for the far more accessible Windows.,
> > 
> > -- 
> > Christopher (CJ)
> > chaltain at Gmail
> > 
> > -- 
> > Ubuntu-accessibility mailing list
> > Ubuntu-accessibility at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-accessibility