Proprietary Vendors Don’t Help Disabled, Says FSF

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has criticised proprietary software makers for not doing enough for physically impaired users, and has appointed an executive to make sure the GNU Project – which developes free software – does better.

The FSF claims that proprietary software companies are fundamentally limited when it comes to serving the needs of disabled users. “When people with disabilities use proprietary access technology, they have little or no way to correct whatever is wrong with it,” the FSF stated. “These products are only changed or improved when the vendors see a business reason for doing the work; this leaves many users behind.”

Free software can do more for disabled software users, according to Chris Hofstader, the new director of access technology software for the GNU Project. “The FSF has led the software world to an understanding of the importance of computer user freedom, but there is still much more to do to achieve accessibility for people with disability in free software”.

Hofstadter should know. Eight years ago, working for a commercial company, he testified in Microsoft’s anti-trust trial on the difficulties of making a profit in software for disabled users, saying that accessibility software for Linux would not make financial sense.

Vacuum In Leadership

The recent economic crisis had hit proprietary technology companies hard, said Hofstadter, and hit projects for impaired users particularly hard. “There are a number of projects in this area that have been hurt badly by recent layoffs at some large technology companies, and there is a vacuum in leadership on this issue in the free software world.”

According to the FSF, Hofstader has direct experience of the limitations of proprietary software when it comes to meeting the needs of disabled users. Hofstader was vice president of software engineering for Freedom Scientific – a leading maker of software for the visually impaired, but eventually left the company and has been involved in open source projects including joining the GNU Project in February. He also co-founded the League for Programming Freedom with FSF president Richard Stallman.

While at Freedom Scientific, Hofstader made a legal statement in 2002 as part of the US government’s anti-trust trial against Microsoft. In the statement Hofstader argued against any changes to Microsoft’s business model. “If there were multiple versions of Windows with differing combinations of Microsoft and non-Microsoft Middleware, it would dramatically increase the testing burdens on Freedom Scientific and other ISVs. The proliferation of different versions of Windows, containing various combinations of Microsoft and non-Microsoft Middleware, would impose tremendous testing burdens on Freedom Scientific,” he stated.

Accessible Technology For Linux Not Profitable

Hoftstader, who became profoundly blind himself at the age of 35, also argued back in 2002 that developing accessibility technology for Linux for Freedom Scientific did not make financial sense. “…because Linux applications are mostly free, we would not create an accessibility aid for the Linux operating system, even if Linux were to provide operating system support for assistive technology products. Freedom Scientific is in business to make a profit. Our ability to create and license our software for a profit provides us with the incentive to continue developing products. We do not believe it would be in our interest to develop a product for Linux that we could not sell profitably,” the testimony states.

But in his new position, Hofstader now believes that the priority for FSF should be investigating the scope of what open source technology is available for disabled users. “Our first major tasks include finding free access technology software and cataloging it, raising awareness of what can be done to improve access for people with disability, and finding people to help us make programmes accessible,” added Hofstader.

Commenting on the scale of the issue, FSF cited UN figures putting the number of people with disabilities in the world at around 600 million which the open source organisation described as “an exceptionally large and disenfranchised group”. The majority of computer programs and web site – up to 85 percent potentially – do not comply with accessibility standards and guidelines. “They provide a frustrating experience and can bar users from jobs or school activities,” the FSF stated.

Other open source groups have welcomed the GNU’s project focus on accessibility. “We aim to work together with GNU to achieve solid, user-friendly enhancements to the computing environments available to persons with disabilities. This is indeed a very welcome development,” said Janina Sajka, the chair of open accessibility at the Linux Foundation.