[info@fsf.org: Nominate your free software heroes by November 15th]

[B. Henry]

I'm going to nominate Tony Sales. Haven't yet gone to check out the process, i.e. if it's where multiple folks nominate and the most nominated are then put in a run off, or if one nominates and others add their names to a list of supporters, but if anyone beats me to the punch if the latter that'd be cool as well; and I can't think of anyone who's done more important work for a significant if relatively small sector of the open source world.
All my respect to Luke and the Ubuntu project in general of course, and I'm hoping that by 2014-4 Ubuntu will be so good out of the box that more blind people will make the move to Linux and then it'll be Luke's turn...smiles and thanks.
Too bad I didn't know about this last year. The NVDA devs deserve an open-source gold medal as well, but I'm voting for Tony this year!

----- Forwarded message from Free Software Foundation <in...@fsf.org> -----

Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:51:07 -0400
From: Free Software Foundation <in...@fsf.org>
To: burt1...@gmail.com
Subject: Nominate your free software heroes by November 15th

The nomination window for the 15th annual Free Software Awards is now open. Now is your chance to show some love for your favorite free software hero or an inspiring project that uses free software or free software principles to benefit humanity.

Don't delay; nominations are due on November 15th. To nominate an individual for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software or a project for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit, send your nomination along with a description of the project or individual to <award-no...@gnu.org>.

The free software movement is powered by dedicated individuals and has fostered many incredible projects that are making a difference in the world with the help of free software tools and principles. You can read more about the awards and past winners in our official announcement: <http://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards>.

What are you waiting for? Take a few minutes to give props to people and projects that inspire you. Your nominations will be reviewed by our awards committee and the winners will be announced at LibrePlanet 2013.

So check out our submission guidelines: <http://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards> and get those nominations in to <award-no...@gnu.org> by November 15th. The FSF staff and awards committee look forward to reading your submissions.

Thanks,
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager, Free Software Foundation

PS. Help us spread the word about the 15th Annual Free Software Awards by sharing our official announcement on identi.ca: <http://identi.ca/notice/97415991> and forwarding this note to your friends.
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[Roger devin Prater]

Yes, really, at least Ubuntu has full! braille support! Now if only I could
get it totype in grade two, LOL. Of course that was with an earlier Vinux,
so things may have changedby now.

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[Cindy-Sue Causey]

Saw this when it came out.. Vinux of course came to mind.. Just
sometimes can't cognitively get the words together to immediately
share.. :)

Whoever becomes involved, it can only help the project grow due to
increased visibility by direct association.. :)

Cindy

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http://www.youtube.com/user/SilkWhispers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountainsplash/
Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA
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[Blaine Clark]

Hi guys, there's two categories. One is "Award for the Advancement of Free Software" and the other is "Award for Projects of Social Benefit". Let's get a letter put together for each one and plug Tony for the first one and the development crew for the second.
Who's for that?
I copied the directions;

Eligibility

In the case of both awards, previous winners are not eligible for nomination, but renomination of other previous nominees is encouraged. Only individuals are eligible for nomination for the Advancement of Free Software Award, and only projects can be nominated for the Social Benefit Award.

Award recipients will be chosen by a committee of previous winners and FSF president Richard Stallman.

Please send your nominations to award-no...@gnu.org, on or before Thursday, November 15th, 2012. Please submit nominations in the following format:

• In the email message subject line, either put the name of the person you are nominating for the Award for Advancement of Free Software, or put the name of the project for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.

• Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40 lines or less) of the work done and why you think it is especially important to the advancement of software freedom or how it benefits society, respectively.

• Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your nomination is based on.

[B. Henry]

Sounds good to me. I'm way behind on things, but think this is worth some of my time. Tony gave so much of his time for us, and a lot of people have helped make Vinux what it is, a fine distro; and a virtual life changer for some!

On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 02:17:58AM -0400, Blaine Clark wrote:
> Hi guys, there's two categories. One is "Award for the Advancement
> of Free Software" and the other is "Award for Projects of Social
> Benefit". Let's get a letter put together for each one and plug Tony
> for the first one and the development crew for the second.
> Who's for that?
> I copied the directions;
>
>
> Eligibility
>
> In the case of both awards, previous winners are not eligible for
> nomination, but renomination of other previous nominees is
> encouraged. Only individuals are eligible for nomination for the
> Advancement of Free Software Award, and only projects can be
> nominated for the Social Benefit Award.
>
> Award recipients will be chosen by a committee of previous winners
> and FSF president Richard Stallman.
>
> Please send your nominations to award-no...@gnu.org

> <mailto:award-no...@gnu.org>, on or before Thursday, November

> 15th, 2012. Please submit nominations in the following format:
>

> *

>
> In the email message subject line, either put the name of the person
> you are nominating for the Award for Advancement of Free Software,
> or put the name of the project for the Award for Projects of Social
> Benefit.
>

> *

>
> Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40
> lines or less) of the work done and why you think it is especially
> important to the advancement of software freedom or how it benefits
> society, respectively.
>

> *

>
> Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the
> materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your
> nomination is based on.
>

[Jeffrey Malewski]

I'm very much in favor of the idea. Vinux wouldn't have happened without
Tony's hard work and dedication to the project. I also agree that Rob, Luke,
Mo, Don, and the entire development team deserve some recognition. Not too
many years ago a totally blind user would have needed sighted help to
install and configure their OS. The Vinux project has changed that. What's
not life changing about being able to install an accessable OS on your
computer without having to wait for sighted help?

-----Original Message-----
From: vinux-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:vinux-...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of B. Henry
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2:55 PM
To: vinux-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [VINUX-SUPPORT] [in...@fsf.org: Nominate your free software
heroes by November 15th]

-----

[Blaine Clark]

OK, here's a start on the nomination drafts. This draft needs a bunch of polish and additions. Either reply on list or directly to me with the changes. Open the email links below and let me know what needs to be added and changed. When it's done we can all simply open the finished links and add our own personal note to the final draft.

Tony's award nomination.

Vinux Project Team award nomination.

[B. Henry]

I am assuming that the links are to use, and that one can just edit things to suit their point of view.
Maybe I am wrong/misunderstood and we all need to send the exact thing? I'll bounce the modified messages I made back at the list and see what folks think.
Thanks for starting on this. I've been so busy that I haven't followed up.
Pretty slick how you put this together.
Actually, I'll just paste what I sent below.

For consideration for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software. Anthony (Tony) Sales, a lecturer for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) started a project targeting vision impaired computer users. His idea was to design a computer system that is so accessible that it would permit the blind and the deaf-blind to have much more control over their computer, and not be forced to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to enjoy access to all the educational and entertainment possibilities available with modern computers. Vinux has been easy enough to attract novice computer-users who have never used Linux before and powerful enough for Linux experts to adopt it as their primary operating system.


Burt Henry

For consideration for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit. The Vinux Project's purpose is to design a computer system that is so accessible that it would permit the blind and the deaf-blind to have much more control over their computer. The Vinux Project, based on the Ubuntu build of Linux does just that. The Vinux Project has taken the default Ubuntu installation packages and amended them so that the accessibility packages activate as soon as possible during the Live Load process. The default Ubuntu program packages have also been amended. Some program packages have been replaced with more accessible /screenreader-friendly  packages. Special custom software and scripts have been included to assist low and no vision computer users with their daily lives an  computing needs. Screen readers and Braille display support are are built right in.
Burt Henry.

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-- 
B. Henry

[Mobeen Iqbal]

Hi everyone,

Although we really appreciate Blaine posting this to list for your comments, some of the base line wording specific to the vinux project is incorrect. We will post another draft to list as soon as this has been rectified for people to comment on. Thanks for all your comments!

Mo.

[B. Henry]

Tony's job description needs tweaking I think, but am not familiar enough to know that from memory.

[Mobeen Iqbal]

Yep, this should really have been checked either with me or with one of our development team before submition to save any confusion if unsure. To ensure Vinux is represented correctly, its important that we submit information which is as accurate as possible. I'd hold off making any amendments to the draft included for now until its been corrected and reposted.

Thanks,

Mo.