On Thu, Apr 27, 2006 22:13:21 PM -0800, Kam Leo (kam.leo@xxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> On 4/27/06, M. Fioretti <mfioretti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > b) my proposals are more addressed to single LUGS and/or
> > individual FOSS advocates. FOSS can become as accessible as you
> > want, but if the first reaction a disabled user gets when he
> > asks for support or complains are like Mike's one, or the many
> > similar others the article has got... there's no amount of UI
> > work that will make the mass of disabled users switch to FOSS,
> > or not oppose its adoption in the public sector.
>
> Where are you getting your poor opinion about LUGs?
Mine is a *proposal* to each LUG to evaluate the possibility to do
something (see below) in its own area to address this issue, _not_ a
critique or an attack to any LUG. I have never heard of a *LUG*
turning away disabled or any other users, and I didn't mean anything
of the sort. I *have* seen, instead, many comments from individual
FOSS users which do turn away (both the comments and the related
actions) disabled and many other classes of users. Often *before* they
even discover what a LUG is or contact one.
> My LUG and its sponsor has never turned away anyone.
I was sure of that. Same here, but the problem I am trying to make
more known is another. I will try to explain it with a series of
questions:
> My LUG and its sponsor has never turned away anyone.
OK, but:
* has your LUG ever spent a little part of a meeting discussing the
fact that, without onsite assistance, many disabled users may have
many more difficulties than others to even *install* GNU/Linux
and/or configure their specialized HW, so they couldn't even get to
the point where they can start testing and get familiar with the
system?
* has your LUG ever discussed in a meeting that (so far) most disabled
users have no reason whatsoever to spend one minute trying any FOSS,
but they *do* have the means to *stop* its adoption in the public
sector, and are already being used in this way by Microsoft in
Massachusetts?
* given all the above, has your LUG ever considered being proactive,
that is inviting some disabled users to test FOSS *together*, try a
dual install on their machines, configure their hardware (as the
Huddersfield LUG is already doing)? If nothing else, to help them
to file bug reports, which would help the developers?
At the end of the day, this is all what my Open Letter actually is: a
*suggestion* to ask these questions to your next LUG meeting.
Hope this clarifies my answer.
Thanks for your comments,
Marco Fioretti
--
Marco Fioretti mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Fedora Core 3 for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/
Capitalists all believe in free markets until they have to live in
one. M. R. Chapman, "In Search of Stupidity"
