Ethin is not so sure about that Proton Runtime...

Hey guys,

A bit of a long message follows, sorry about that!

Just listened to Episode 456 and am a bit concerned about win32 being a universal target. For me, Wine is a hit-and-miss scenario: if I use wine to play a game, the top concern -- accessibility -- isn't always an issue. Either the game has built-in accessibility or I've memorized the menus enough that I can do what I need to know how to do and no more (though you can see how the second possibility is a very limiting one). 

Outside of games, though, apps are pretty much off-limits to me: Orca, the Linux screen reader, cannot integrate with Windows accessibility stacks (and Windows provides four of them), and Wine doesn't implement any but MSAA at the moment. As such, no windows app is accessible to me unless the app is self-voicing, which is incredibly rare. (Steam is also entirely inaccessible on anything but Windows and even that's a rough ride, though that's mainly due to Valves complete lack of caring towards individuals with disabilities than anything else.) 

So, I'm concerned that, if win32 does become a universal target for apps, it will make the accessibility on Linux practically non-existent, and unless Wine manages to magically integrate all of Windows's accessibility stacks within a reasonable degree of time, I don't see the accessibility of Wine-emulated apps changing any time soon. I do recognize that accessibility is a hard problem to solve, but I also think that app developers should always take accessibility into consideration from the get-go, instead of adding it on after the app has been placed into production, which makes the entire user experience (from a disabled persons POV) sub-optimal.


You may be wondering, then, about Windows screen readers. These simply don't work. Wine does not emulate a full windows desktop environment, and a windows screen reader runs in the background and provides accessibility dynamically as a user uses the system. Wine, to my knowledge, currently doesn't provide the support necessary for this to work. Some blind folks who I communicate with have tried a Windows screen reader but it couldn't even start and crashed almost immediately.


I love coder radio and I enjoy hearing what you guys think about these kinds of subjects. Keep up the excellent work!