Emacspeak-14.0 (TopDog) Unleashed!

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

               Emacspeak-14.0 (TopDog) Unleashed!
               ----------------------------------

For Immediate Release:

San Jose, Calif., (May 4, 2001)
    Emacspeak-2001++: Speech-enabling The Semantic WWW
    --Zero cost of ownership makes priceless software affordable!

Emacspeak Inc (NASDOG: ESPK) --http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net--
announces the immediate world-wide availability of Emacspeak 14.0 --a
powerful audio desktop for leveraging today's evolving semantic WWW.

Investors Note:
---------------

With several prominent analysts recently initiating coverage, NASDOG:
ESPK is now trading over the net at levels close to that recently
attained by last year's DogCom high-fliers.

What Is It?
-----------

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. With support for the freely downloadable IBM ViaVoice TTS
(Outloud) speech synthesis engine, Emacspeak now turns Linux into the
first zero-cost Internet access solution for blind and visually
impaired users.

Major Enhancements:
-------------------

 1: XML Authoring Using XAE.
 2: Form-based Editting Of Audtory Display Settings.
 3: Semantic Support Within JDE.
 4: Programmable hotlists via url templates.
 5: Utilities to progressively filter text.
 6: Overlaying Grids On Tabulated Information.
 7: Speech-enables EShell.
 8: Speech-enables Emacs 21 packages.
 9: Speech-enables dictionary server access.
10: Speech-enables Emacs IRC client ERC.

See the NEWS file for additional details. The Emacspeak source
distribution now includes a structured FAQ list designed to introduce
new and old users to the Emacspeak environment.

Opening Doors To A Windows-Free Millennium:
-------------------------------------

Emacspeak is now voluntarily bundled with all major Linux
distributions.  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-2001 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 commercial user environments. On this theme,
when once 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 surprise at the unusual candor
manifest in the assertion that it would take popular idiot-proof
interfaces until the year 2070 to catch up to where the Emacspeak
audio desktop is today. Upon hearing this, the said proponent of the
crash-prone system turned blue in the face (screen), crashed to the
floor and refused to get booted (ever again).

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:
-------------------------

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).

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

Emacspeak can be downloaded from sourceforge via HTTP or FTP:
http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net
ftp://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/pub/emacspeak You can visit
Emacspeak on the WWW at
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/emacspeak (Cornell) --You
can also pick up emacspeak via anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/raman/emacspeak/.

Note that in my  experience the the sourceforge site is more
reliable than the Cornell site due to the operating system
each site has chosen to run.

You can subscribe to the emacspeak mailing list
emacspeak@xxxxxxxxxxx by sending mail to the list request address
emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx  The latest development snapshot of
Emacspeak is available via anonymous CVS from sourceforge.

History:
--------

Emacspeak-14.0 --code named TopDog--is the first release of this
millennium in a continuing a series of award-winning audio
desktop releases from Emacspeak Inc.  Emacspeak-13.0 --codenamed
YellowLab-- was the closing release of the 20th. century.
Emacspeak-12.0 --code named GoldenDog-- began leveraging the
evolving semantic WWW to provide task-oriented speech access to
Webformation. 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-- continued the tradition 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.

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

Based at Cornell (NY) http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman --home
to Auditory User Interfaces (AUI) on the WWW-- Emacspeak is
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

About This Release:
------------------

According to Hubbell Labrador, the integrity of the
 Emacspeak codebase is assured; we are unaware of any
 changes made to the source code without our knowledge.

Windows-Free (WF) is a favorite battle-cry of The League Against
Forced Fenestration (LAFF).  --see
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm for 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.

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      
Email:  raman@xxxxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/             
PGP:    http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/raman.asc 

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