posting from Windsor Maine; Steve Hoad Hi! I've seen postings in a few places looking for a developer. I'd just like to add some historical perspective to that article. Having dealt with Apple and Macintosh since 1993, I saw their commitment to accessiblity slide hard between 1993 (the introduction of System 7) and 1995. The old outSpoken screen reader became barely functional, and according to sources at Alva Apple was not cooperating by providing code and appropriate hooks in the operating system for developers (third party cooperating developers) to use. The statement in the article, " To be fair, the situation isn't entirely Apple's fault. CEO Steve Jobs himself can't force third-party software companies to continue = developing products they don't want to build. And Apple can't be expected to pick = up the slack for every third-party developer that leaves Mac users in the = lurch. OPEN-SOURCE SOLUTION. Apple claims that it's not ignoring blind users. = "A screen reader is something that's important to us, and we continue to evaluate our options in that area. Accessiblity is something that has = been important to us through the entire development of OS X," says Chris Bourden, senior product-line manager for OS X." is very hard for me to believe. I worked with Alva and Apple as these computers were introduced in Maine and there was a heck of a lot of stone walling on Apple's part. Alva didn't have an appropriate product to use with OSX (system 10) and so, to cover their assets, Apple made their Maine school laptops load with the dual boot of OSX and OS9. Soon all the stuff that could run in 9 was outmoded by the increased functionality of System X (OSX) and the blind were in the lurch. They still are. Apple made the choice to be very closed mouthed and closed minded about providing access to the blind. They did not want to talk. They wanted to make big PR breakthroughs with their roll out in Maine, and the blind weren't to get in the way. Despite objections by me and other colleagues, they maintained that their products were accessible. They really should be scared. Separate is not equal, if you are offered a job in an office environment using Apples and you are blind, you are out of luck! Your access will always be patched together and spotty. It is Apple's responsibility and duty under the law to cooperate with third party developers. Bill Gates and Microsoft did it and things happened. Apple didn't do it. They ought to be sued soon!!!! Happy New Year to who ever the new engineer at Apple is, and to you all on the list!! I was an Apple user until 1996!!!! Steve Hoad _________________________________________________________________ Have fun customizing MSN Messenger — learn how here! http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_customize VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. To join or leave the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations. VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html