See below for the follow up on IE4....Apologies if not relevant for
some....hit the delete button now!
Best wishes,
E.A.
Mrs E.A.B.Draffan
Assistive Technology Centre,
University of Sussex
Brighton, BN1 9RW
Tel: 01273 678497
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/ATC/index.htm
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> From: Jamal Mazrui <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: An analysis of our experience and response on IE
4.0inaccessibility
> Date: 10 October 1997 19:52
>
> My view on the iE4 matter may be summarized in the following points:
>
> (1) The Microsoft accessibility team made a public relations blunder by
> not alerting the disability community that Active Accessibility had not
> made the 4.0 release of Internet Explorer. This alert should have
> been accompanied by an assurance that this was only a temporary setback,
> with a committment for when Active Accessibility would be included within
> this and other Microsoft applications.
>
> (2) We can probably assume that the Microsoft accessibility team has
> learned from this PR blunder and that it is unlikely to recur again. We
> should give them the benefit of the doubt that MSAA was not included in
> IE 4.0, not because of them, but despite their efforts. In other words,
> while we may have legitimately blamed the accessibility team for not
> alerting and reassuring us, we should put the blame on the release of IE
> without MSAA on senior managers at Microsoft.
>
> (3) Senior management at Microsoft should be sent a message from
> consumers that Microsoft should match deeds with words when it comes to
> accessibility to people with disabilities. It is fine and proper for
> companies to tout accessibility in their product marketing and corporate
> image promotion, but this must be backed by substance.
>
> (4) Three forms of influence are needed upon senior management at
> Microsoft: personal stories of the impact of IE4 inaccessibility, media
> stories that cause Microsoft to publicly defend its accessibility
> committment, and economic pressure from government and private
> organizations with significant purchasing power who communicate the
> importance of accessibility within their procurement criteria.
>
> (5) We should try to leverage Microsoft's clear mistakes with IE 4.0
> into a commitment to full accessibility of Windows 98 upon release,
> including MSAA in all parts of the software that screen readers
> and other adaptive tools would otherwise have difficulty with. We
> should call for the release of Windows 98 to be delayed if necessary
> until this is done.
>
> Regards,
> Jamal
>
> Net-Tamer V 1.09.2 - Registered
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