Announcing Emacspeak-8.0 --Re-establishing User-Centric Computing

["T. V. Raman" <raman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

                       Announcing Emacspeak-8.0 (BlackDog)
                       -----------------------

For Immediate Release:

San Jose, Calif.,  (May 1, 1998)
    Emacspeak Re-Establishes User-Centric Computing
    --Interactive Accessibility enhances Speech-Enabled Desktop

About Emacspeak:
---------------

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.

Major Enhancements:
-------------------
0) Efficient navigation and browsing of structured and multicolumn WWW pages:


    A) Browse tables by either row or column.
    B) Automatically generated  table of contents  
1) Single click access to RealAudio content from anywhere on
   the Emacspeak desktop.

2) Speech-enabling extensions for the following:

    A) Customizing Emacs: emacspeak-custom.el
    B)  Buffer specific navigation: emacspeak-imenu.el
    C) Java Development Environment: emacspeak-jde.el
    D) Browsing Software: emacspeak-speedbar.el
    E) Browsing Multiple Mail Spools: emacspeak-mspools.el
    F) Developing Python Software: emacspeak-python.el

3) Additional user-visible enhancements:
 
    A) Dired Improvements: emacspeak-dired.el
    B)  Running Remote Emacspeak Sessions: emacspeak-remote.el
    C) Terminal Enhancements: emacspeak-eterm.el
    D) Speech-Enabled Menubar Support
    E)Enhanced Navigation In Completion Buffers
    F) Emacspeak Clipboard
    G) Work with multiple frames and displays

See the release notes for details.

Independent Test Results:
-------------------------

Independent test results have proven that unlike some modern
software, Emacspeak-8.0 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.

Industry experts welcomed these results as a 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.

Speaking with Aster Labrador this morning, the creator
of Emacspeak pointed out that these results once again
emphasize the user-centric design of Emacspeak; "It is
the user --and not the computer-- that stops
functioning when Emacspeak is uninstalled!".

History:
--------

Emacspeak-8.0 --(AKA Emacspeak-98++) code named BlackDog--
is a major upgrade to the speech output extension to Emacs.
Emacspeak-95 (code named Illinois) was released 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.  This release
re-establishes user-centric computing as demonstrated in the
test results described earlier in this announcement.

Obtaining Emacspeak:
--------------------

Visit Emacspeak at http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman
--You can also pick up emacspeak via anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/raman/emacspeak/.
You can subscribe to the emacspeak mailing list
<emacspeak@xxxxxxxxxxx> by sending mail to the list
owner greg e. priest-dorman <priestdo@xxxxxxxxxxx>.

About Emacspeak:
---------------
        
Based at Cornell (NY) <http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman>
--home to some of the most innovative auditory interfaces on
the WWW-- Emacspeak is mirrored world-wide by an
international netwrok of software archives and bundled with
all major Linux distributions on CDROM.  The Emacspeak
mailing list is archived at
<https://www.emacspeak.org/VCCS-archive/> --thanks to
Greg Priest-Dorman.

Press/Analyst Contact:  Aster Labrador
              http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/aster/aster.gif

    CopyWrite  )C( Aster Labrador. All Writes Reserved.
BlackDog (DM) and Labrador (DM) are Registered Dogmarks of Aster Labrador.
     All other dogs belong to their respective owners.

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      Adobe Systems                 Tel: 1 (408) 536 3945   (W14-612)
      Advanced Technology Group     Fax: 1 (408) 537 4042 
      (W14 129) 345 Park Avenue     Email: raman@xxxxxxxxxxx 
      San Jose , CA 95110 -2704     Email:  raman@xxxxxxxxxxx
      http://labrador.corp.adobe.com/~raman/        (Adobe Intranet)
      http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/raman.html    (Cornell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own and in no way should be taken
as representative of my employer, Adobe Systems Inc.
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