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MA To Adopt Short-Term Plug-in Strategy for ODF
feminazi writes "Massachusetts is committed to saving documents in Open Document Format. Massachusetts is also committed to using applications that are accessible. Therefore, the Jan. 1, 2007, deadline for the executive branch to begin using applicationsv that default to ODF is being postponed until the applications can be proven to be accessible. 'Instead, the state will on a near-term basis adopt a plug-in strategy to fulfill its policy calling for executive-branch agencies to make use of ODF ... ITD will be following through with testing of the ODF plug-ins in preparation for a phased rollout, expected to begin later this year.'"
No, it doesn't. It raises other questions, though.
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Since I saw the same question posted in amny places let me go ahead and explain it once in one place. FYI I have been teaching the blind and people with multiple disabilities how to use computers for competitive employment for nearly 10 years.
There is no operating system that actually has speech and large print capabilities built into the core. Accessibility has always been a "bolt on" solution. In many cases, large print software and screen reading software has altered and even mangled video drivers in order to try to figure out what was being put on the screen to work with it. However, in the last few years there has been a move to incorporate the ability for third party software such as screen readers and large print software to be able to access the data in otehr apps more easily so that the text can be read by the screen readers. Unfortunately, it is still possible (and common) to run into applications that use odd ways of writing to the video cards that the large print software is unable to intercept. Therefore you will get issues such as in Microsoft Word where if you insert Word Art it is invisible when you are using large print software but visible when you disable the software.
And of course, we all hate Microsoft for being a monopoly so the adaptive technology industry is rather happy (I'm sure) that MS doesn't incorporate a useful large print and screen reader software built into the OS. Now, there is large print and speech applications built into Windows. However, they are no better than many two-bit freeware packages and are not practical for long term use if you're going to be as efficient as a sighted person at work.
Mac OS has large print and speech applications as well. However, the large print software doesn't track the typing cursor. They have had this flaw for years and seem too lazy to fix it. This makes the software nearly useless for word processing. Their screen reader leaves plenty of room for improvement as well. Unfortunately, since the move to Mac OS X there are no longer 3rd party vendors for large print and speech for the Mac (there used to be).
Hopefully that clears a few things up. Now, as for Open Office, I have been using it for a low vision user who need minimal magnification with large print software and it seems to be OK although there are some odd random artifacts that clear up. Not a great solution but it will do for that particular situation. However, screen readers and Open Office are still not where they need to be. In OO.o's dfense, they are aware of this and, I believe, working on it. Here's hoping we'll see some movement soon.
Michael Wigle
Computer Access Specialist
Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The ODF Plug-in is still a work in progress. The completion date is January 2007. It's worth noting that Massachusetts is now doing things with the ODF Plug-in prototype that go beyond the original RFi. For instance, an "accessibility interface" has been added. The interface simply reads through the document elements and provides the user with a pop up dialog to describe graphical objects such as pictures, graphs, tables, sub set comments, etc. These descriptives are put into the new accessibility tags as approved by the ISO OpenDocument XML Accessibility Sub Committee. There are other areas where Massachusetts RFi trials have expanded the possibilities the ODF Plug-in presents. Some of the more interesting have to do with PDF, digital signatures, and an XForms data binding - data extraction interface for MSOffice. The only way to understand what is going on in Massachusetts is to think back on the ETRM plan. The first order of the day is SOA, and everything flows from that decision. To do SOA you need open standards. And you absolutely must have XML technologies, including a portable XML document model that is universal as both an information transport and information transformation layer across desktop productivity environments, servers and devices. Massachusetts now has two choices for that portable document model - choices which they clearly didn't have when the ERTM was written. The differences between ODF and MSECMA however are considerable. If they were to choose MSECMA, that decision would drive all desktop, server and device choices to the XP-Vista-.NET system of integrated platforms. With ODF, non Microsoft products can be used at any of the three platforms. We would argue further that the ODF Plug-in offers server and device side providers the same level of integration with an MSOffice bound desktop productivity environment as MSECMA provides to the Vista system of integrated desktop to server to device platforms. ~ge~
I just now tested zooming on Mac OS X. It does track the cursor TextEdit if you have set the Universal Access settings to (a) continuously follow the pointer, (b) zoom follows the keyboard focus, and (c) whether Mouse Keys are On or Off.
Wigle, you are a moron to say that Apple is "too lazy" to fix this when a Mac OS X user can easily determine that you don't know what you're talking about. If you could have just gone without the "too lazy" part, I would have felt you were just wrong, not a total gasbag.
Maybe you have found some crappy non-Quartz-compliant word processor that won't function. Maybe that crappy thing is actually Word. I guess if you're working for Word, Job Number One is to keep people on Windows. In that case, it's not Apple who is lazy.