Kelly,
I am probably not expert enough to answer this, although since my only bias
here is anti-windows, maybe I have something to say.

Oh, another bias, I never, well almost never, use the most
popular anything, biggest is almost always lousy.

I'd love it if Linux were a viable alternative for blind folks. I heartilly
approve of the open source concept and the result that there is no monopoly
in linux.

However so far as I can see to this point, the command line interface to
linux is pretty weird.  Yes it is command line driven, and therefore keeps
from losing us in the "positional user interface" (pronounced POOIE) which
Windows really is.

But the commands for various programs are pretty difficult and about as anti
intuitive as you can get.

If I were 10 years younger and less tired of operating systems,
all of them, than I am I'd have a Linux box on my desk now and
probably be a beta tester for Speakup.  I may yet do that.

If I were to advise a younger blind person who wanted to be in
the software or hitech game as a professional, I'd say definitely
learn and use Linux wherever you can.

As for home users, I am not so sure.  If you love to fiddle with
computers then you are a prime candidate for Linux.  However if
you can't stand the time to learn two operating systems, then it
is a hard call.

Since the anti trust case against Microsoft has been setteled
with no more than a polite slap on the wrist, "THEY" will
continue being the big bad guys on the block and therefore most
likely dominating the industry.  Unless this changes, there is
pressure to conform and use that which everyone else uses.  This
is even more strong on blind folks as many of us must use what
our "agencies" insist we use.

On the linux side, there can be no real doubt that Linux is much
the better, faster, more stable, operating system  With access
software like Speakup actually built in to the Kernel of the
system, it is much  less likely that the system, or perticular
applications, can play nasty tricks on one.  Therefore it is less
likely we will need to have Linux access systems specially
coddled  for each and every single new application we want to
use.

All this has been said before, I'd love it if things come out
better than i really think they will.

However most of the development tools I now use are not yet
available in Linux, so I am pretty much stuck.

Now, did I say anything here at all? <GRIN>

Tom Fowle
Embedded Systems Developer/ Rehab engineer
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
San Francisco,
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