# Linux accessability in crisis

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Sunday, 07-Feb-2010 16:00:50

Posted with permission, ..
Hi everyone,
Recently Oracle has purchased Sun. One of the first things they did was
to lay off the Gnome accessibility leader as well as the Orca
development leader. Please tweet or blog or post to your myspace or
facebook pages. Let Oracle know this kind of total disrespect for
accessibility will not be accepted. I am sure that other companies are
watching this move to see how the blind community takes it. So, even if
you do not now and do not plan to use Linux or the Orca screen reader,
please join our cause. Even leaving a comment on blogs with posts on
this subject will help. Here are a couple to read for more information:
http://bit.ly/oracle-a11y
http://jkenn337.klangoblog.net/2010/02/06/orca-screen-reader-and-oracle-takeover-of-csun/
There will also be something on my blog as soon as my rage subsides
enough to keep it G rated lol.
Thanks for your help in this matter
Storm
Ben.

## Post 2 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Sunday, 07-Feb-2010 16:01:35

The posters blog and twitter:
Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/stormdragon2976
My blog, Thoughts of a Dragon:
http://www.stormdragon.us/

## Post 3 by The Roman Battle Mask (Making great use of my Employer's time.) on Monday, 08-Feb-2010 15:34:36

God forbid oricle acts like a business who's goal is to maximize profit, not a charity. Son cared about gnome accessibility because they were trying to sell Gnome based development solutions to large corporations and government where accessibility mattered. All of Oracles development solutions can run on windows and there for at least in theory are supported by windows screen readers. Oracle is not in the business of providing Gnome based desktop solutions so doesn't need to worry about Gnome accessibility. Instead of screaming at Oracle for making a decision that makes business sence to them maybe you should try contacting other Linux venders who are in the business of providing Gnome based desktop solutions and ask them to continue the work Son started when it was in there business interest to? Off the top of my head I can think of three companys who may be interested in this, IBM, Novelle, and Redhat.

## Post 4 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Monday, 08-Feb-2010 23:09:48

That might not be a bad idea, we should see if any company will take on the GNOME accessibility project, since Oracle did officially discontinue it. Why would IBM be interested, I've always thought that AIX was inaccessible? I know OpenSUSE is accessible after install, and parts of it are not. Same for Redhat, it is accessible after it is installed, not during. It matters, because Oracle supports both RHEL their own version of RHEL on the low-end. And Solaris on the high-end.

## Post 5 by The Roman Battle Mask (Making great use of my Employer's time.) on Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 7:48:00

Oracle supports Rel on servers, not desktops. SSH works just fine using a windows screen reader and if you need physical access to the server there's always speakup.,

## Post 6 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 9:24:09

True, to an extent, I could use speakup to do my work on a workstation, but most versions of it do not come with software speech built in. I'd have to buy a hardware symth which is expensive. I'm very much aware that RHEL is only for servers. But those servers do not always have their ssh ports open for security reasons. And it wouldn't be exactly easy to ask the server or network admin to do so without a good justification. I'm aware I could install SQL*Plus on my current laptop and connect to the RHEL server, but I'd rather not have to do so, if at all possible. No, Orca screen reader isn't perfect, but it allows us access to the linux GNOME desktop, Firefox 3.6, Thunderbird 3.0.1, etc. Without that access or choice, we'd be left using Windows with expensive screen readers, or the Mac, which though it is a good OS, is also expensive because of the price of the hardware. And Oracle 11G RDBMS along with the associated tools aren't released for the Mac OSX OS, they are only for windows and Linux/unix. There is also the issue that though Linux/Unix comes with the access bridge by default, that don't mean jack shit to Jaws, if I wanted to use SQL*Developer. To use SQL*Developer, you need the Oracle Suite of tools installed on the same system that Jaws is installed on. And last time I checked, you can't install Jaws on a Linux/Unix system. The other company that could take over the GNOME accessibility project besides IBM or Novell would be Google.

## Post 7 by blindndangerous (the blind and dangerous one) on Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 14:58:23

So either way you look at it, we pretty much need the accessibility with oracle. Granted, I know nothing about this apart from what I've just read here, but by the sound of it, this seems like its pretty important and to just take it completely out is just dumb in my opinion.
Maybe this is kind of going out on a limb here, but people who use ubuntu, sighted people, how many of them would you say that they know orca is installed? Same with windows users and narrator, unless they stumble on it be accident, they really don't know, so would it really be that hard for them to just keep working on accessibility especially when it can increase their popularity in both the sighted and non-sighted comunities?

## Post 8 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 14:06:03

Might I also add that Solaris does not come with Speakup at all. Speakup is Linux Kernel specific. The only screen reader for Solaris other than Orca for the GNOME desktop is YASR.

## Post 9 by ¤§¤spike¤§¤ (This site is so "educational") on Friday, 19-Feb-2010 10:54:19

Here's my letter to Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, explaining my opinion on their discontinuation of the GNOME Accessibility Project.
Hello Mr. Ellison,
My name is Richard Funes. I would like to congratulate
you for winning the America's cup. I am a visually impaired person going for my OCA and OCP certifications specializing in Database Administration for the Oracle 11 Grid Database Management System. I live in Los Angeles California. I started my college career in 2006 at Westwood College, Los Angeles campus. I completed my Bachelor Of Science Degree in Information Systems Security. While at college, it took me awhile, but I did eventually earn the respect of the staff and students there, once they found out I was an equal to them. I did not let my disability get in my way. I graduated June 27, 2009 with secondary honors in the class of 2009.
I currently attend UC Irvine Extension where I am getting the training and knowledge necessary to become a Database Administrator concentrating on database security. In my current class, I use Jaws 10 and Oracle SQL*Plus. The program is accessible. I can see all output after the commands are issued, or when scripts are run. The e-books that are used in class are completely accessible to me. In my current class, I run Oracle 11G R1 on Windows 2003 Standard Server 32 bit on a duel core CPU with 4 gigs of ram.
At UC Irvine Extension, the school accommodates my needs extremely well. My instructor for the class is Victor T. Wu. He’s a great instructor who explains the Oracle concepts extremely well with good examples that illustrate them and how they apply to real life. I ask for his help only when I am unable to get a lab to work out, and have tried more than once and it continues to fail. The work is challenging and rewarding at the same time. I am able to keep up with the class and the pace at which it runs.
In my next classes, I’ll be running Oracle Unbreakable Linux 5.3 with Oracle 11 Grid Release 1. I chose Oracle Database Administration as a career path because I know it will provide me with unlimited opportunities for future employment; once I get my 2 certifications. I chose Oracle because it not only runs on Windows and Linux, but because it also runs on Unix specifically Solaris. I’m willing to volunteer my services as a visually challenged person to help out Oracle to make your Database Management products as accessible to as many people as possible. This way more people can use Oracle software no matter what Operating System they use, Windows, Linux, Unix, and Mac OSX. I’m willing to work with a PAC on Oracle software accessibility if there is one, or start a new one from scratch.
Your firing of the 2 main GNOME accessibility developers and the discontinuation of the GNOME accessibility project that has the Orca screen reader as part of it affects me, and current and future Database Administrators or developers. Without Orca and the accessibility to the GNOME desktop on Linux or Unix, I and other visually challenged people will not be able to do our work to the best of our abilities. We will have to rely on Windows or Mac boxes as front-ends which may not always be allowed depending on the security of the information we are working with.
I will explain. When I was at Westwood, I used my current laptop as a front-end to a Fedora box on the command line. It was a lab, so disabling the firewall wasn’t a security risk. Doing so improperly in a work environment can be considered a security risk because of the sensitivity of the data that is being handled. The only other accessible solution, Speakup is available only on Linux not Solaris. Also, Jaws For Windows cannot be installed on a Linux or Unix system, if I wanted to use SQL Developer on it. The version of Jaws on any Windows machine will not recognize any version of the Java Access Bridge that isn’t natively installed on the machine itself.
Mr. Ellison, I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this letter. I know that your recent purchase of Sun Microsystems will allow you to continue to lead in the Database and Information Technology arenas for years to come. Once again, congratulations and thank you Mr. Ellison for bringing the America’s Cup back to San Francisco, California. Though you faced stiff competition from 2 time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland, you overcame the odds and beat them in both races.
Sincerely,
Richard Funes
B.S. Information Systems Security
Westwood College, Los Angeles Campus