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  2. [nvda-addons] FW: [nvda] "Unofficial" NVDA Add-Ons Repository

Re: [nvda-addons] FW: [nvda] "Unofficial" NVDA Add-Ons Repository

Adriani Botez
 

Dear all,

 

I don’t find the original post in my inbox, but I want to answer to this statement though.

 

Some months ago I discovered the french addon website and made some statements about cooperations between addon authors. At that time it was all about audacity. Two brilliant authors in my opinion, Paul B. and Robert H. have developed two complex addons for the same software. Then I discovered, that there is a very useful addon for Microsoft word on the French website. Its functions could have been integrated in the appmodule since very long time. Moreover, there is the Italian addon repository, with very useful addons as well. And there are many other addon websites we might not know about.

 

Well, ideally authors should cooperate with each other on a worldwide basis, but that’s why we organize NVDACon every year. However, there is someone who is creating an addon for his needs and might want to share it just with a small community of people. There are many reasons for this behavior:

  1. The author cannot speak English and thus, he cannot understand user feedback
  2. The author knows that he or she will not be able to invest a huge amount of time in maintaining the addon. He or she thinks maybe if the addon is spread all over the world, the feedback will cause far too much work.
  3. The author does not understand the git system or is used to other subversion systems and might not want to change this.

 

The decision of an author to make an addon available for the entire worldwide community can and should not be manipulated by any system restriction or what so ever. The only thing we can do is to encourage anyone to submit his addons. The man power is in place, the systems are in place, the structure is in place. It is not more than writing an e-mail and requesting a review. But it is still the decision of an author if he wants to make this step or not.

 

 

Best

Adriani

 

 

Von: nvda-addons@nvda-addons.groups.io <nvda-addons@nvda-addons.groups.io> Im Auftrag von Joseph Lee
Gesendet: Montag, 4. Juni 2018 16:21
An: nvda-addons@groups.io
Betreff: [nvda-addons] FW: [nvda] "Unofficial" NVDA Add-Ons Repository

 

Hi all,

Do we have any response to this? I think the below suggestion shows that we need to do something about making authors not listed on official add-ons site feel comfortable submitting their add-ons for review here.

Cheers,

Joseph

 

From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Monday, June 4, 2018 7:17 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] "Unofficial" NVDA Add-Ons Repository

 

On Sun, Jun 3, 2018 at 08:09 pm, Joseph Lee wrote:

The position of the NVDA add-ons community is that we encourage add-on authors to submit add-ons for review

Which would be ideal, if  everyone did it, but they don't for myriad reasons.

I think that most sentient adults are capable of making risk assessments and deciding whether or not they wish to take them.  Those using add-ons from other than the official repository must know, or they do now, that doing so is at your own risk (AYOR).

But, my experience with software in general far more closely mirrors that of Vlad, "non-official rarely means dangerous."   I cannot count the number of "very focused purpose" mini-utilities I've used that were developed by some individual based upon their need that later fulfilled one of mine, and perfectly and safely.  

One of the big mistakes I think that both NVDA and JAWS have made is not setting up "official but unvetted" repositories for user-created add-ons/scripts.   There is just so much material out there that's been created for "odd little needs" that could so easily be shared if the mechanism existed "at the source," but it doesn't.  I got huge push-back from "the powers that be" when I started a repository (personally maintained) of repair, restoration, & other miscellaneous resources for Rolls-Royce motorcars.  The Rolls-Royce Owners' Club wouldn't touch it, saying they couldn't be responsible if any of the goods or services were found to be substandard, but it's now become a reference that's used the world over (at least if the e-mail messages I've received over time, and keep receiving, are any indication).  In this day and age there is just no excuse for not promoting information sharing so long as those on the receiving end know that they need to do their own risk assessment about its use, which they should be doing anyway for anything, and letting the chips fall where they may.  The world at large is not, and will never be, "sanitized for your protection" and one must move through the world with that always in the back of one's mind.  How far to the back will vary, greatly, depending on the situation and stakes at play.
--

Brian - Windows 10 Home, 64-Bit, Version 1803, Build 17134  

     Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.

          ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

 

 
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