Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Merger between VFO group and AI Squared.

Please take this question at face value, What's your source for your claim that Ted Henter gave the NFB 7 figures to protest against Microsoft and with in a week they were marching up and down in Redmond? If that's really well documented, it's quite a bombshell. I wasn't exactly an NFB insider when the NFB said it did not want Microsoft to develop narrater more fully. But I argued extensively with the people on the committee that offered that recommendation. I am going to say we exchanged hundreds of messages about it on the nfbcs list over a period of several months. I am about as sure as I can be that the people involved made that recommendation because they honestly believed that blind people needed jaws to do their jobs and therefore we needed to protect Henter-Joyce for our own good. I never heard anything about a donation from Ted Henter. Of course, if they actually did take a bribe, they wouldn't say so. I don't recall the NFB organizing protests either. As far as I know, all the NFB did was issue a statement, in conjunction with a consortium of accessibility advocates, that recommended that Microsoft not go any further with narrator. I've been getting beaten up by people from the NFB over this for a long time. They complain if I say the NFB asked Microsoft not to develop a screen reader for Windows. They want me to say they were part of a consortium that made that recommendation. Personally, I don't think that is a particularly meaningful distinction especially since there was some opposition to the recommendation within the consortium and it was in large part due to the efforts of the NFB that the NFB's own viewpoint prevailed. I'm not really the type to bend over backward to defend the NFB but I really think their people acted in good faith. It occurs to me that some of the people that were on that committee are still on the nfbcs list. Someone could just ask them if they happened to get a donation from Ted Henter about the same time they made the recommendation to Microsoft. Personally, I am not willing to ask that question. On 17 AM, Scott Granados wrote:

+1

And I wouldn’t categorize the NFB’s response as anything but an outride bribe taken from Ted Henter to protest built in screen readers and thus set our community back by a decade.

Ted Henter gave the NFB 7 figures to protest against Microsoft and with in a week they were marching up and down in Redmond. Sad that our interests are subverted by a few for personal gain but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

On 6/15/16, 8:40 PM, "Blind-sysadmins on behalf of Isaac" wrote:

bann me if you want but vfo is very fucked off ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darragh Ó Héiligh" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 6:38 AM Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Merger between VFO group and AI Squared.

...

AI Squared has been merged into VFO group. I'm sure you've heard at this stage.

So, what do you think?

Are those of you who use Window Eyes worried? Do you see the VFO group retaining both Jaws and Window Eyes?

I think this has the potential to be huge news. _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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