North American Network Operators Group

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Re: CCO goes down the tubes

  • From: Laurence F. Sheldon, Jr.
  • Date: Mon Mar 29 11:10:47 2004

Howard C. Berkowitz wrote:

At 6:58 AM -0800 3/29/04, Michel Py wrote:

 > Maybe I'm the only one left who sees a need to be

 able to check on things from a vt100 at a remote site.
You are not. A telnet version without all the fluffy bullshit would be
more than welcome.


I suppose it's trivial in the grand scheme of things, but on a fairly small screen, I can'tget full access to the search without scrolling to the right. We wouldn't want to reduce the priority of advertising information display to the user who probably has already bought equipment and has a question about it, would we?

Perhaps a nastier effect is that the more eye candy, the harder it is to use disability access features. One of the incredibly positive social effects of the Internet is that it is inclusionary, not exclusionary.

The regrettable tendency of many enterprises to equate the Internet with the latest and greatest in Web technology leads to both economic and sensory exclusion. Personally, I resent having to buy new hardware to run the new operating system that runs the new browser that runs the latest plugin, in order to see straightforward reference material [1]. In addition, the more visually intensive an interface metaphor, the more difficult it is to adapt it to magnified images, text-to-speech, or other things needed for people with visual disabilities. The more mouse/trackball/pointing device intensive, the more difficult it is to adapt to people with motor disabilities -- including the all-too-common repetitive stress injuries to hands.
This, along with the recognition that years of experience are of no
value without the latest crop of "certifications" has caused me to
decide over the weekend to make an application for a job that for the
first time in 50 years has nothing directly to do with computers except
as tools used in conjunction with  hauling others around behind me in
a huge orange box.

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