Re: word documents

[Thomas Ward <slingshooter@valkyrie.net>]

Hi, Dannie. Well, in theory we can use Star Office 6.0  or Open Office 
1.0 for Linux, but Star 
Office accessability is still in it's infancy. 
For you and everyone else who is interested in X-windows accessability and 
Star Office 6 accessability I'll outline what I know, what current state 
is, and and where this is going.
First, you'll need an updated distribution of Linux that will have the 
Gnome 2.2 desktop, or update your Linux system, libraries, etc to gnome 
2.2. I know for a fact that Red Hat 8.1 and Mandrake 9.1 will be shipping 
sometime this spring with Gnome 2.2.
After obtaining Gnome 2.2 you will need to check out gnome common, 
gnome-speech libraries, and gnopernicus from cvs, and build them. This 
often the most frustrating step.
If you are using Star office 6 you will need the Java virtual machine in 
jre 1.4 or better, install it, and then install the Java accessability 
bridge for Linux.
At last you will need to install Star Office 6. Fortunately, I did not 
have to buy it because it ships with Mandrake Linux Delux already.
After all this accessability wasn't all that fantastic, or anything I 
could write home about. However, future versions may improve as 
development continues. I assume since Sun is pushing the development of 
gnopernicus, and are also the creators of Star office accessability will 
improve over time, and when they have more time to deal on specific 
applications and not have to worry about the core which is still under 
development.
I will also inform everyone here that this information is a couple of 
months old. I haven't been able to get the vary latest gnopernicus 
compiled yet, and I have not updated the java access, etc.
I'm waiting for Mandrake 9.1 to be released before I attempt to upgrade 
gnopernicus, the java access, etc.