"Accessibility in Fedora Workstation" (fwd)

Tue Aug 16 18:43:45 UTC 2022

John,

On Mon, 15 Aug 2022, John G. Heim wrote:

> Linux is free, open source software. Much of it is written by volunteers. The 
> Linux community simply isn't comperable to Apple or Microsoft. Apple and 
> Microsoft have ethical obligations that do not apply to the Linux community. 
I am sorry, but this is simply not correct.

Linus began developing Linux, marketed as a free edition of
UNIX in 1991.
Since then the system is frankly used in countless ways,
including products that carry legal obligations to be inclusive.

Here is an article listing but a few.   Searching uses for Linux?
In your preferred tool will lead to many more such articles.

    From your kitchen to the reaches of outer space, Linux gets
    everywhere...

25 Awesome Things Powered By Linux
By Joey Sneddon � Updated 5 January 2021

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/08/25-awesome-unexpected-things-powered-linux

A few from this list alone.

1. Super Computers
    Yep, every single one of the world's top 500 supercomputers
use Linux.

2. NASA
    From storing data sent down from satellites and telescopes, to
    crunching that data for research institutions and the greater
public to use, NASA relies heavily on Linux.

6. Roku
    All Roku hardware runs a custom, heavily modified version of
Linux called `Roku OS'.

8. Smart TVs
    Linux doesn't just power a plethora of set-top boxes. A number
of leading TV manufacturers offer a built-in `smart TV'
experience Using Linux.
    From LG (who use WebOS) to Samsung (who use Tizen) to Sharp,
HiSense, Philips and Panasonic... The list of gogglebox giants
making use of Linux goes on!

10. The Amazon Kindle
    The Kindle is almost a byword for digital e-readers, but few
give much thought to the embedded operating system it runs, but
it is Linux. Some hackers even managed to install Ubuntu on the
early-gen Kindles.
    The very first version of the Kindle OS used Linux kernel
v2.6.26,
    while the most recent, the Kindle Oasis, uses v3.0.35.

15. Self Driving Cars

    Google's autonomous car computers run Linux, as do prototype
    self-driving vehicles from General Motors (GM) and Volkswagen.

19. Advanced Air Traffic Control

    The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States
switched to Linux back in 2006. It runs custom-built software to
manage and display air traffic flow - software that runs on
Linux.

20. Chromebooks
    You'd be surprised how many people think Chromebooks run
Android -- they don't. Chromebooks run Chrome OS, a Linux
distribution based on but heavily modified from) Gentoo.

23. U.S. Department of Defense

    The United States Department of Defense is the single biggest
customer of Red Hat Linux.

Honestly I have no idea where you get the sense that Linux is run
by volunteers.  When IBM bought Red Hat, the company behind
Fedora in 2019, they paid 34 billion dollars for the company. 
Meaning this individual is likely drawing an amazing wage to
define Accessibility in Linux by  their very small and limited
dictionary.

Karen

> On 8/14/22 18:21, Karen Lewellen wrote:
>>  I echo this attitude concern, but for a different reason.
>>  who gets to decide what bodies  deserve a place at the table?
>>  because of a vascular accident in an eye surgery, I experience a brain
>>  anomaly where certain frequencies stimulate the dizzy centres of my brain.
>>  allot of those frequencies happen in poorly designed software speech
>>  configurations for Linux.
>>  Meaning, because little effort has been made to give choices for Linux
>>  speech in the gui, if I wanted to use this, I would have to choose between
>>  a Linux computer and hospitalization.
>>  compare this with apple hardware.
>>  I recently aquired a  mid 2012 macbook pro which, because of how the
>>  voiceover   sound is produced is perfectly safe for my use..and I can
>>  still run  only one  Mac os off  from the last pre m.1 systems.
>>  i have an associate in my office running their business on a 2011 macbook
>>  pro.
>>  Indeed climate change, landfill issues, available resources in terms of
>>  training and access all over the world.
>>  And, for many how their body works mandates choices.
>>  There was a time when one of the great things about Linux was that it
>>  could be used to breathe  new life into older hardware. especially
>>  helpful in  non-western countries where getting the fastest car on the
>>  road was costly.
>>  If your attitude was the rule though, those folks regardless of abilities
>>  might never get computers at all.
>>   take your attitude and say substitute braille.
>>   Statistically less than 10% of the blindness community are braille
>>  users, meaning the majority do not  use it, or even learn it if newly
>>  blinded.
>>  so, its unfortunate some blind people are still stuck needing volumes and
>>  volumes of braille, but  to expect the world to confirm to such a limited
>>  use language etc.
>>  Speaking personally, especially given how flexible Linux is supposed to
>>  be?
>>  deciding some have no place at your gui table is little different than
>>  deciding those who are visible minorities, no matter the location, have no
>>  place at the table either.
>>   Karen
>> 
>> 
>>
>>  On Sun, 14 Aug 2022, Chris Brannon wrote:
>> 
>> >  Matt Campbell <mattcampbell at pobox.com> writes:
>> > 
>> > >  I took this position in 2000, but for the last decade or more, access 
>> > >  to a
>> > >  GUI has been widely available to blind people at no extra cost. (If 
>> > >  there
>> > >  are blind people today who are truly stuck on old hardware with no
>> > >  accessible GUI, that's unfortunate, but I think this is one case where 
>> > >  the
>> > >  best solution is charity, not expecting the rest of the world to 
>> > >  accommodate
>> > >  this situation forever. That's no different than for sighted people 
>> > >  stuck on
>> > >  very old hardware.)
>> > 
>> >  I'm sorry, but this is a very irresponsible attitude, given the impact
>> >  of climate change.  And now on top of that, the world is coping with
>> >  supply chain issues.  "Chuck it in a landfill because it won't run the
>> >  latest Electron app" is deeply unacceptable.
>> > 
>> >  I do agree with you about the importance of GUI accessibility, even
>> >  though I only use one when circumstances force me to it.  I'm somewhat
>> >  optimistic about the recent news.
>> > 
>> >  -- Chris
>> > 
>> > 
>> 
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