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Re: iCITA Petition (Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office)

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From: Nigel Peck (MIS Web Design)
Date: Oct 11, 2004 8:13PM

Hi Kevin,

All I know about this issue is this email but... why would they want to make
it available open source? They would be doing themselves out of business if
they want to sell the new version.

What are you petitioning against? Trying to make money from effort?

It sounds like you CAN make Office content accessible, buy their product!

If I've missed a valid point here I apologise but I don't see why you expect
them to make their software available open source.

Put a group together and write your own if it means so much to you and make
that open source, that's how you could help but it takes a lot more effort
than a petition does. I have no interest in petitioning someone not to make
money from their efforts and if you won't write it yourself and make it open
source why should you expect them to?

Thank them for the 'free' software in the past and pay the $40! It's not
unreasonable for someone who can afford office.

They deserve thanks not hassle!

I agree that it would be nice to have a free accessibility tool for office
like the one they have but if they don't want to make it free anymore that's
their business.

Perhaps employers should start petitioning employees to work for free then
it would all be a lot easier...

'This will help ensure that accessibility becomes a standard, rather than a
privilege.'

No it won't, it just shows you don't care about Accessibility enough to
spend $40 on it. While you're at it though I'd also like free copies of
Windows XP and Office 2003, please petition Microsoft I don't have time.

All IMHO of course.

Cheers,
Nigel Peck

Managing Director
MIS Web Design

Phone (UK):
+44 (0)845 230 3221

Phone (US):
+1 214 693 3107

Website:
http://www.miswebdesign.com/

Email:
<EMAIL REMOVED>

Post:
Sheffield Technology Parks
Cooper Buildings
Arundel Street
Sheffield
S1 2NS
UNITED KINGDOM





________________________________

From: kevin.sesock [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Monday, October 11, 2004 2:15 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] iCITA Petition (Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for
Microsoft Office)



For those of you who are members of the W3C Web Accessibility Interest Group
list, you might have noticed a recent thread regarding the Accessible Web
Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office, offered by iCITA at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For those of you who have not followed the
thread, the short description is that this tool, which was once freely
downloadable, is now no longer offered free of charge. Instead, a Demo
version is available that provides limited functionality. Their version 1.0.
the one we were all used to using, is now no longer downloadable or
supported. If you need a refresher, the tool's website is at
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/software/office/index.html



The finer details of the discussion on the W3C list aside, I have created a
petition asking iCITA to open source the old version, version 1.0 (the one
no longer viable for them, other than taking up storage space), to the
accessibility and developer communities at large, in the attempt to provide
us with something that will allow us to convert Microsoft content into
something accessible and usable for persons with disabilities.



The petition is online at http://www.petitiononline.com/amocwiz/



Thank you for your time.

Kevin A. Sesock, A+, NET+, CNA, MCSA
Assistive Technology Specialist
2nd Level Support Team
Technology Support Department
Information Technology Division
Oklahoma State University

&quot;Hail to the speaker, hail to the knower; joy to he who has understood,
delight to they who have listened.&quot; --Odin