Re:Has anyone really thought this through ? (Score 1)

I admitedly have not read to the end of this thread but I do currently have the time to do so. Firstly, there is NOT a keystroke for every windows icon. Oh that there were. The user-friendliness of a given windows application is defined by the thoughtfulness of the particular programmer. Some programs lack many conventional windows keystrokes and also lack meaningful labels on icons so that alternate methods for using the program also do not work. I also need to stress that speech recognision is of no use to blind people on its own, and is only useful at all if there are other reasons why they cannot type. As a blind person, this would seem self-evident, but it comes up time and again. The is not putting data in, the issue is getting information out. The best typer in the world will have problems if they don't know where they are typing. Strides are being made in access to windows and its applications, but the best solutions cost the better part of a thousand U.S. dollars. For this reason, many blind people continue to persist with DOS, believe it or not, and dialup shell accounts. Because both DOS software and shell accounts are becoming scarce, linux provides a real alternative. I have been using linux for around 14 months and wouldn't give it up. I do still have a windows machine at my disposal for doing certain tasks, but its main use is as a terminal for my partner to telnet into our linux box. I look forward to the day when I could, if I wanted to, uninstall windows completely. Geoff.