San Jose, CA, (May 1, 2004)
Emacspeak-20: Empowering Experienced Users
--Zero cost of ownership makes priceless software affordable!
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Emacspeak Inc (NASDOG: ESPK) announces the immediate world-wide availability of Emacspeak 20.0 --a powerful audio desktop for leveraging today's evolving semantic WWW.
With several prominent analysts initiating coverage, NASDOG: ESPK is now trading over the net at levels close to that attained recently by last year's DogCom high-fliers.
Emacspeak is a fully functional audio desktop that provides complete eyes-free access to all major 32 and 64 bit operating environments. By seamlessly blending all aspects of the Internet such as Web-surfing and electronic messaging into the audio desktop, Emacspeak enables speech access to local and remote information with a consistent and well-integrated user interface. A rich suite of task-oriented tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the evolving semantic WWW.
See the NEWS file for additional details.
Never a toy environment, All of Emacspeak is now
voluntarily bundled with all major Linux
distributions. Though designed to be modular, distributors
have freely chosen to bundle the entire system without any
undue pressure. The integrity of the Emacspeak codebase is
ensured by the reliable and secure Linux platform used to
develop the software. Extensive studies have shown that
thanks to these features, users consider Emacspeak to be
absolutely priceless. Thanks to this wide-spread user demand,
the present version is being made available at the same zero
cost as earlier releases. At the same time, Emacspeak
continues to innovate in the area of speech interaction and
carries forward the well-established Open Source tradition of
introducing user interface features that eventually show up
in luser environments. On this theme, when challenged by a
proponent of a crash-prone but well-marketed windowing system
with the assertion Emacs is a system from the 70's
,
the creator of Emacspeak expressed surprize at the unusual
candor manifest in the assertion that it would take popular
idiot-proven interfaces until the year 2070 to catch up to
where the Emacspeak audio desktop is today. Industry experts
welcomed this refreshing breath of Courage Certainty and
Clarity (CCC) at a time when users are reeling from the Fear
Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) unleashed by complex software
systems backed by even more convoluted press releases.
Independent test results have proven that unlike some modern software, Emacspeak can be easily uninstalled without adversely affecting the continued performance of the computer. These same tests also revealed that once uninstalled, the user stopped functioning altogether.
Speaking with Aster Labrador, the creator
of Emacspeak once pointed out that these results
re-emphasize the user-centric design of Emacspeak; It is
the user --and not the computer-- that stops
functioning when Emacspeak is uninstalled!
Note from Aster and Bubbles: (UnDoctored Videos Inc. is currently looking for volunteers to star in a video demonstrating such complete user failure).
You can visit Emacspeak at SourceForge. The latest development snapshot of Emacspeak is available via anonymous CVS from sourceforge.
You can subscribe to the emacspeak mailing list emacspeak@cs.vassar.edu by sending mail to the list request address emacspeak-request@cs.vassar.edu.
Emacspeak-20.0 -- AKA LeapDog -- continues the long established GNU/Emacs tradition of integrated innovation to create a pleasurable computing environment for eyes-free interaction. Emacspeak-19 --AKA WorkDog-- was designed to enhance user productivity at work and leisure. Emacspeak-18.0 --code named GoodDog-- continues the Emacspeak tradition of enhancing user productivity and thereby reduces total cost of ownership. Emacspeak-17.0 --code named HappyDog-- enhances user productivity by exploiting today's evolving WWW standards. Emacspeak-16.0 --code named CleverDog-- was the follow-up to SmartDog --and continued the tradition of working better, faster, smarter. Emacspeak-15.0 --code named SmartDog--followed up on TopDog as the next in a continuing a series of award-winning audio desktop releases from Emacspeak Inc. Emacspeak-14.0 --code named TopDog--was the first release of this millennium. Emacspeak-13.0 --codenamed YellowLab-- was the closing release of the 20th. century. Emacspeak-12.0 --code named GoldenDog-- first leveraged the evolving semantic WWW to provide task-oriented speech access to electronic information on the Internet. Emacspeak-11.0 --code named Aster-- went the final step in making Linux a zero-cost Internet access solution for blind and visually impaired users. Emacspeak-10.0 --(AKA Emacspeak-2000) code named WonderDog-- was the last in a series of award-winning software releases designed to make eyes-free computing a productive and pleasurable experience. Emacspeak-9.0 --(AKA Emacspeak 99) code named BlackLab-- continued to innovate in the areas of speech interaction and interactive accessibility. Emacspeak-8.0 --(AKA Emacspeak-98++) code named BlackDog-- was a major upgrade to the speech output extension to Emacs.
Emacspeak-95 (code named Illinois) was released as OpenSource on the Internet in May 1995 as the first complete speech interface to UNIX workstations. The subsequent release, Emacspeak-96 (code named Egypt) made available in May 1996 provided significant enhancements to the interface. Emacspeak-97 (Tennessee) went further in providing a true audio desktop. Emacspeak-98 integrated Internetworking into all aspects of the audio desktop to provide the first fully interactive speech-enabled WebTop.
Originally based at Cornell (NY) --home to Auditory User Interfaces (AUI) on the WWW-- Emacspeak is now hosted at SourceForge and mirrored world-wide by an international network of software archives and bundled voluntarily with all major Linux distributions. On Monday, April 12, 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
The Emacspeak mailing list is archived at Vassar --the home of the Emacspeak mailing list-- thanks to Greg Priest-Dorman, and provides a valuable knowledge base for new users.
Press/Analyst Contact: Hubbell Labrador
Going forward, BubbleDog acknowledges her monopoly on setting the
direction the the Emacspeak Audio desktop, and promises to exercise
this freedom to innovate and her resulting power responsibly (as
before) in the interest of all dogs.
Windows-Free (WF) is a favorite battle-cry of The League
Against Forced Fenestration (LAFF).
--see this
overview of details on the ill-effects of Forced
Fenestration.
CopyWrite )C( Aster and Hubbell Labrador. All Writes
Reserved.
GoldenDog (DM), BlackDog (DM) etc. are Registered Dogmarks
of Aster and Hubbell Labrador.
All other dogs belong to their respective owners.