Microsoft Announces Cross-Platform UIAutomation Accessibility Model (FWD)
neither an endorsement, nor a spark, just re-distrubuted for your information
as either blind programmers or developers of software and or hardware for the
blind and visually impaired, forwarded by your erstwhile (and mostly, these
days, offline) listowner, gregory.
--- FORWARDED ANNOUNCEMENT ---
From: Microsoft <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subj: Microsoft's New Accessibility Model to be Offered as Cross -Platform Solution for Industry
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 14:39:48 -0700
Microsoft's New Accessibility Model To Be Offered as Cross-Platform Solution
for Industry
Special Edition - May 27, 2005
Microsoft's New Accessibility Model to be Offered as Cross-Platform Solution
for Industry
As a longtime leader in accessibility, Microsoft will be offering a
cross-platform, royalty-free license for its new accessibility model,
Microsoft® Windows® User Interface Automation, or UI Automation, to
promote innovation in the assistive technology industry.
"Microsoft is excited to offer UI Automation to the industry because it
allows application developers to easily expose the rich semantic information
needed by assistive technology products to create effective, interactive
experiences for computer users. UI Automation represents a significant
accessibility innovation for the industry and one that should benefit all
computer users, not only Microsoft customers," explains Rob Sinclair,
director of the Accessible Technology Group
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141662>
at Microsoft.
Microsoft recognizes the growing demand for accessible technology and is
providing the industry with this new model to advance the state-of-the-art
for products that are essential for computer users with disabilities. A
recent study found that 57% of computer users
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141663>
in the United States are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology
due to experiencing mild to severe difficulties or impairments. Currently, 57
million computer users in the U.S. utilize some form of accessible technology.
That number is expected to rise to 70 million in the U.S. by 2010
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141664>. (1)
"Because the majority of computer users benefits from accessible technology,
it is increasingly important for technology leaders like Microsoft to foster
innovation in accessibility through industry-wide collaboration," explains
Sinclair. "We're offering this model to improve collaboration across the
industry and demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to accelerate innovation in
accessibility," further explains Sinclair.
UI Automation is the successor to Microsoft Active Accessibility® and
preserves the investment software companies have already made in that model.
UI Automation builds on the lessons learned from Microsoft Active
Accessibility to offer a complete model for sharing information about
graphical user interface elements, document content, and tables of
information. This work represents more than four years of research and
development by Microsoft's Accessible Technology Group-the team responsible
for developing Windows' accessibility support for the last twelve years.
Microsoft's implementation of UI Automation will be available for
Microsoft® Windows® XP and the next version of the Windows desktop
operating system code-named "Longhorn," scheduled to release in calendar
year 2006.
More UI Automation Information:
Questions and Answers About UI Automation
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141665>
For Developers: Accessibility Framework (UI Automation) Details
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141666>
(1) Study Commissioned by Microsoft, conducted by Forrester Research, Inc.
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141667>
2004.
Data on computer users likely to benefit from accessible technology
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141668>.
Data on forecasted accessible technology use
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141669>.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More UI Automation Information
· Questions and Answers About UI Automation
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141670>
· For Developers: Accessibility Model (UI Automation) Details
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141671>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessibility Links
· Microsoft Accessibility
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141672>
· Microsoft Developer Accessibility
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141673>
· Newsletter Archives
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141674>
· Feedback/Contact
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141675>
· Subscribe/Unsubscribe
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3141676>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"TextHelp's flagship product, Read&Write, is available on multiple
platforms, which has required extensive development efforts to bring to
market. As an industry-wide accessibility model, Microsoft's UI Automation
will help reduce the complexity of designing and developing assistive
technology products, allowing these development teams to spend more time
investing in product innovation."
-Martin McKay, CIO, TextHelp, Inc.
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