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Perl for the Disabled
joukev writes "Perl.com is running an article on pVoice. pVoice is an Open Source communication system for severely disabled children written in Perl. I started this for my daughter in 2001. She's still using it and hopefully the medical world will see that there are Open Source alternatives for these kinds of applications. More information on pVoice can be found on the pVoice website (general information) or on the pVoice Developers website."
I think you'll find the proper name is "PHP".
The blaring political incorrectness of the headline is so compelling, I have to comment. One never refers to a person by their disability. People aren't defined as "the disabled" as though their disability is the most significant part of their identity. The correct and respectful approach is to say "people with disabilities".
See Guidelines for Reporting and Writing about People with Disabilities for more info.
Why this is somewhat amusing is that it's the other kind of "free" (as in speech) as well, but people who usually use the beer analogy typically mean that it's not the other.
I'm also really glad to see people sponsoring him and donating licenses to software for development of it. Another cool example about how this community helps support itself.
that was so obvious :)
Having tried to find Assistive Technology products in the past for people, to meet specific needs, this really gets my hopes up in two seperate ways:
1. Someone saw a specific need and developed an application around it. As he said in the text, the closest application available would not suffice.
2. Too many Assistive Technology products are horrendously expensive. JAWS, the de facto screen reader for Windows, can be $1500 for an individual user for one computer only. There are discounts, grants, and loans available out there for Assistive Technology, but they can be hard to get.
The only other fully featured screen reader that I've been able to find is emacspeak, but there's little out there in full screen navigation screen readers for Windows, Macintosh, etc. (in terms of Free).
Perl working with the disabled, the retarded have had all Perl's attention to date.
It's chaos.
Serious question : "Free as in beer?" What does that actually mean? Beer isn't free. Does it mean that if you go to Dublin or Copenhagen, you can go and see how it's made, therefore being analagous to see the source of that latest program you just downloaded?
Please, explain!
PS. Yeah, AC, I know, I swear I'll come back and read any replies.
This is a great story about a father doing something for his daughter and the community. I'm encouraged by the story.
Ahhh, I think I get it. "Free as in beer" is that you've robbed someone elses idea, and implemented it in a much less user-friendly way and environment. "Free as in speech" is that you want to retain the right to do this. Nice.
That was the funniest thing I've seen all day.
...pVoice is an Open Source communication system for severely disabled children written in Perl.
Personally all of the severely disabled children I've come across have been coded in Lisp.
(i'm going to hell)
The Artistic License may or may not be free (as in RMS). Here's what the FSF says about it:
"Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.
from section508.gov
After this the Federal Government created the Accessibility Forum to bring industry and government into some agreement and cooperation on standards, as well as highlight existing technology and its weaknesses.
I spoke with the original Accessibility Forum director and my first question was,"What about open source?"
He said that the major distributions of Linux would not have anything to do with it. It was a commerical field dominated by proprietary business-models. I explained to him that if the government took an initiative for open source software in this area, not just openly approved standards, the results could have global impact for the disabled community. If he really wanted to do something that would help people, I insisted, he should focus on making the technology open and free to use.
Interesting, he also said that the lady representing Microsoft was "a bitch."
I know this is a niche market, certainly much smaller in the open source world, but this is an area where open source software can really help humanity. Want good publicity for the cause? Want to get people to notice OSS and its decidely non-commerical interests? Want people who have never heard of Linux to try a live-linux distribution? Software such as pVoice is one way.
Computers are starting to affect everyone
Fantastic work. You are an inspiration!
TRoy
The source
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
This may not be case for every condition labeled a "disability"; just speaking up for my own circumstances :-)
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. I