hello,

i found the opening speech by mr. bill gates, posted here, at the
"accessibility summit" quite interesting and revealing.

i have heard some people being thankful to microsoft once again and
hopes it keeps it's promise this time. never forget, microsoft is the
problem, not the solution.  pardon me for not genuflecting, for a
different reading of the speech, read on.

as do those
who use print and "read between the lines", we blinks need read
between the screen reader output.   while apparently all aflutter
about a born again commitment to access after the explorer 4.0
disaster, a closer reading shows his same old bovine excrement.
while many points could be made in detail, i point to three which i
think reveals most convincingly what to expect from microsoft.

1.   he acknowledges that the computer industry, including microsoft,
will be facing an ever more strident push politically for equal
access.   public relations aside, he knows where the true motivation
he has resides, microsoft has billions to lose if products are not
accessible.  or, and i think this more likely, he has gauged to what
extent investment in public relations and with what minimal gestures
toward legal compliance must be made to make a legally defensible case
in a court suit under the various disability civil rights laws.   he
believes, or has been advised, that one make an investment in public
recognition and bandaid retrofitting which will snow an uninformed
judiciary and public to believe that such smoke and mirrors is
vaccination enough.

2.   he says that other companies will want to become more accessible
to avoid "shaming".   this screams with the greatest clarity possible
his true view of the situation.   charity and gesture to avoid public
shame and loss of face.   access is not a technical goal except in so far
as it makes him feel charitable and soothes his guilt.

3.  he made it very clear, access will be done at's microsoft's
pleasure on the time table it deems necessary to avoid legal problems
and meet it's other more important goals.   this includes the products
they put out, just be patient for the step by step approach we will be
taking, and over the years, everything will be ok.   does microsoft
have curb cuts and accessible bathrooms at it's facilities?   or are
they putting them in as remodeling and expansion makes convenient and
with the least legal and financial impact?   in the 60's this was the
claim of many governmental entities in certain states with regard to
desegregation. well, of course we believe in equality and voting
rights, we just need to do it gradually to cause the least disruption
to ourselves in the manner and on the open ended schedule we shall
deem necessary. disability civil rights is not an opportunity for
corporate charity and patronage.   it is not a list of guidelines for
helping out those poor crippled people, it is the law.

windows has
been around for about 10 years now.   when they wanted to beat
netscape and put it out of business to dominate the internet and it's
future direction, they took one year to go from almost scratch to
having a product that is competitive.   they will need to feel the same
urgency that only legal action can provide.   we need not sue
microsoft, we need only have the various federal civil rights
legislation enforced by government itself.   if the government, and
the state and local governments and private organizations who have
contracted to be compliant, bought no more un-accessible software and
operating systems and began to divest itself of what it has, the
disabled would have it's own version of the one year web browser
"miracle".

where are the blindness advocacy groups on this issue.   what are they
doing in concrete steps to press for enforcement?   the bulk of the
civil rights gained by blinks has been a spin off of the larger
disability community's advocacy.   it has only an indirect interest in
our accessibility to electronic information and we stand naked and
alone in our failure of leadership and action.

regards,

dan