Greetings:
I have learned today through various sources that the U.S.
Department of Education has decided not to adopt Lotus Notes but to
go with Microsoft Outlook-Exchange instead. I do not have enough
data to determine the reasons underlying this decision, but I do
think the decision is significant in view of widespread concerns
that have been expressed about the accessibility of Lotus Notes to
the blind. Although blind users of IBM's OS/2 operating system
have achieved good access to Lotus Notes, in the Windows 95
environment, decent access is still a problem for most users. Last
year, many of us read a letter from Lotus committing to improving
access by the time Version 5 of Notes was released. While it is my
understanding that there has been a significant amount of work done
to improve the ability of Lotus Notes Version 5 to work with screen
reading software for the blind, delays in the release of Version 5
and lack of accurate information about the accessibility features
do give cause for concern.
Regardless of why the Department of Education made its decision, I
believe that it is vitally important for two things to happen.
1. Lotus should continue the work it is doing in the area of
accessibility to Notes Version 5.
2. Information about accessibility features that are due to be
incorporated into the product (or, at the very least,
information about the nature and scope of the work being
conducted) should be circulated widely.
Independent access by the blind to Lotus Notes is no less important
today than it was last year. In fact, the need may be even more
critical as an increasing number of organizations move to adopt
this platform. Accordingly, Lotus should regard the decision by
the Department of Education as an incentive to step up its efforts
to improve accessibility for the blind to Notes and, for that
matter, to other Lotus software.
Best regards,
Curtis Chong
President
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science
chong99@concentric.net
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