RE: [Access-activists] New member with a big project

[Jamal Mazrui]

I wish the best for the BrailleBlaster project.  I am curious, however,
whether the plan to use Eclipse as a platform will be a problem for GNU
support.  As far as I can tell, official statements on both the GNU and
Eclipse web sites say that the GPL (2 or 3) is incompatible with the
Eclipse Public License:

Various Licenses and Comments about Them
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html 

Eclipse Public License (EPL) Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.eclipse.org/legal/eplfaq.php 

Can anyone clarify this issue?

Jamal

-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden
[mailto:address@hidden On Behalf
Of Christian Hofstader
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 5:42 AM
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Access-activists] New member with a big project

It's great to have John here and continuing to work  in  the free
software community. BrailleBlaster is indeed very exciting and the
people who make proprietary Braille software are terrified of the Lib
Louis library that is already out there and forms the foundation for the
new program and are really shaking over the Java application.

Do we have a link to which we can point John regarding the vocabulary of
GNU and why we say, "GNU/Linux" and "free software" instead of "open
source" and such? I hurt too much to get into retyping any of it.

cdh
Welcome to our world John!

On 08/26/2010 04:30 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> Some of you know about me and the project I am announcing. The 
> BrailleBlaster project is written in Java, using SWT. Its braille 
> engine is liblouisutdml which succeeds liblouisxml and calls liblouis.

> Here is the announcement.
>
> --------------------
>
> This is an announcement of an exciting new software development 
> project that will greatly increase the availability and usability of
Braille.
> For full details go to http://code.google.com/p/brailleblaster Since 
> this is an open source project, you are invited to participate. We 
> need transcribers and technical writers as well as programmers.
>
> BrailleBlaster will be excellent for translating and formatting 
> braille and inserting tactile graphics and hence release a blast of
braille.
>
> It will be very user-friendly for non-technical users but also 
> powerful enough for experts.
>
> Naive users will be able easily to compose simple documents and then 
> translate and emboss them in braille or read them on a braille
display.
>
> Advanced users will be able to divide books into multiple braille 
> volumes, with title pages, tables of contents, and end-notes for each 
> volume.
>
> The BrailleBlaster project should be completed within less than two 
> years.
>
> BrailleBlaster will be fully usable in speech or braille by people who

> are blind.
>
> It will be designed for Windows, MacIntosh, and Linux operating 
> systems and common screenreaders
>
> It will have visual display controls that make it maximally accessible

> for users with low vision and other visual disabilities.
>
> It will be localized into most major languages.
>
> BrailleBlaster will be developed under the Apache 2.0 license, which 
> permits broad use, including use in commercial software.
>
> BrailleBlaster's sponsors are ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. and 
> Abilitiessoft, Inc. They will hold the license copyright.
>
>    

--
Happy Hacking,
cdh

Christian Hofstader
Director of Access Technology
FSF/Project GNU
http://www.gnu.org, http://www.fsf.org
GNU's Not Unix!