Mozilla Draft press release - hopefully final. Input Deadline: Tuesday 16:00 UTC

["Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier" <jzb zonker net>]

Please let me know if you have further corrections/comments.

Thanks!

Zonker

Mozilla Sponsors GNOME Accessibility Efforts

BOSTON, Mass -- January 22, 2010 -- The GNOME Foundation is happy to
announce a substantial donation from the Mozilla Corporation to
benefit the GNOME Project's accessibility efforts. The donation will
help continue the collaborative efforts between GNOME and Mozilla on
Accessibility.

The Mozilla Corporation is granting the GNOME Foundation $10,000 for
2010. The funds will be used in part to send GNOME developers to the
25th Annual International CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities
Conference. The CSUN Conference is one of the premier technology
conferences for people with disabilities, and by holding a GNOME
accessibility hackfest at the conference, GNOME can ensure a diverse
group of GNOME developers are immersed in the accessibility space with
direct hands-on interaction with end users.

The recent donation from Mozilla continues a long partnership between
GNOME and Mozilla for accessibility. The GNOME Foundation received a
$10,000 grant in 2008 that was used for the GNOME Accessibility
Outreach Program, and resulted in major accessibility improvements.

"The direct impact of the Mozilla funding has allowed GNOME to add
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) support to the Orca
screen reader and other accessibility enhancements in GNOME," said
Willie Walker of the GNOME Accessibility Team. "All these helped make
GNOME/Firefox a compelling free alternative to commercial products for
the visually impaired. As a result, we're seeing users around the
world using GNOME as their every day solution."

The GNOME Project has worked hard to ensure that all users have the
opportunity to enjoy a Free Software desktop. Just as GNOME has had
great success making internationalization part of the core platform,
accessibility is also taking its place as a core value of the
platform. Sending GNOME developers to CSUN will help to ensure that
developers working on all areas of GNOME are well-educated on
accessibility issues and continue to build accessibility features and
functions into GNOME rather than "bolted-on" features.

The GNOME Foundation and Mozilla are committed to open source, open
standards, and open formats. Both organizations and their contributors
contribute to numerous projects to ensure an open Web and open desktop
platform for all users. Part of that effort is working hard to ensure
users with physical disabilities are able to make use of a free
desktop and Web browser.

"As the leading free software desktop, the GNOME Project's work is
particularly important to Mozilla," said Mitchell Baker, Chair of the
Mozilla Foundation. "The work so far has improved accessibility not
only for Firefox, but the entire GNOME platform."


About GNOME and the GNOME Foundation

GNOME is a free-software project whose goal is to develop a complete,
accessible and easy to use desktop for Linux and Unix-based operating
systems. GNOME also includes a complete development environment to
create new applications. It is released twice a year on a regular
schedule.

The GNOME desktop is used by millions of people around the world.
GNOME is a standard part of all leading GNU/Linux and Unix
distributions, and is popular with both large existing corporate
deployments and millions of small business and home users worldwide.

Composed of hundreds of volunteer developers and industry-leading
companies, the GNOME Foundation is an organization committed to
supporting the advancement of GNOME. The Foundation is a member
directed, non-profit organization that provides financial,
organizational and legal support to the GNOME project and helps
determine its vision and roadmap.

More information about GNOME and the GNOME Foundation can be found at
www.gnome.org and foundation.gnome.org.

Media Enquiries

GNOME Foundation Executive Director
Stormy Peters
Email: gnome-press-contact gnome org
Phone: +1 617-206-3947




-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier <jzb zonker net>
About: http://www.dissociatedpress.net/about/