Commercializing Emacspeak ------------------------------------- For Immediate Release: San Jose, Calif., (April 1, 2000) Commercializing Emacspeak-2000: --Laughing all the way to the bank and back. --Zero cost of ownership makes priceless software affordable, --But only expensive software can make customers feel rich! Emacspeak is a fully functional audio desktop that provides complete eyes-free access to all major 32 and 64 bit operating environments. By seamlessly blending all aspects of the Internet such as Web-surfing and electronic messaging into the audio desktop, Emacspeak has enabled speech access to local and remote information with a consistent and well-integrated user interface. After years of unprecedented success serving free-loaders on the Internet, the for-sale version Emacspeak is now poised to exploit millions of gullible computer users across the world. Free Speech And Commercial Emacspeak: ------------------------------------- Emacspeak will continue to evolve as an open source system. This is because the author believes strongly in the principles of free speech. However, using the edict "speech is silvern, but silence is golden", the free version of Emacspeak --while promoting free speech-- will require users to pay for the much valued feature of immediately silencing speech. Speaking with Emacspeak Inc. new press contact Hubbell (Bubbles) Labrador, the creator of Emacspeak pointed out that if people wanted the right to silence free speech, then they should at least be made to pay for it. Investors and venture capitalists alike welcome this innovative business model as a fresh approach to exploiting the power and popularity of open source software. Speaking anonymously, several Silicon Valley investors have privately voiced their opinion that when the company eventually goes public, Emacspeak (NASDOG: ESPK) will be one of the hottest (and perhaps loudest) IPOs of the millennium. The company is currently in the process of patenting several innovations including "one click silence" and "one blink silence". Going forward, the company expects this extensive patent portfolio to contribute strongly to investor interest. Emacspeak Inc. also plans to introduce future versions that allow free-loaders to initially obtain their software fix free --and later pay each time they request the system to fall silent; investors are thrilled by this prospect because it feels exactly like a mutual fund with a large (and unending) back-end load. Users wishing to pay a front-end load needn't however feel left out; Emacspeak Inc promises to introduces new bug-fixes and features (new bugs) on a regular basis so that loyal users can pay their half-yearly dues to obtain their upgrade-fix. Opening Doors To A Windows-Free 2000: ------------------------------------- Emacspeak is now (voluntarily) bundled with all major Linux distributions. Extensive studies have shown that users consider Emacspeak to be absolutely priceless. Thanks to this wide-spread user demand, the present version is being made available at the same zero cost as earlier releases. And with the introduction of the for-sale version of Emacspeak, it now becomes possible to mesure Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) --something that was impossible when you could not buy the software. The company promises to progressively reduce TCO while increasing the price of the software in the future --this is likely to be popular amongst customers (CIOs) and investors alike. At the same time, Emacspeak-2000 continues to innovate in the area of speech interaction and carries forward the well-established Open Source tradition of introducing user interface features that eventually show up in commercial user environments. On this theme, when recently challenged by a proponent of a crash-prone but well-marketed windowing system with the assertion "Emacs is a system from the 70's", the creator of Emacspeak expressed surprise at the unusual candor manifest in the assertion that it would take popular idiot-proof interfaces until the year 2070 to catch up to where the Emacspeak audio desktop is today. Upon hearing this, the said proponent of the crash-prone system turned blue in the face (screen), crashed to the floor and refused to get booted (ever again). Industry experts welcomed this refreshing breath of Courage Certainty and Clarity (CCC) at a time when users are reeling from the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) unleashed by complex software systems backed by even more convoluted press releases. Independent Test Results: ------------------------- Independent test results have proven that unlike some modern software, Emacspeak can be easily uninstalled without adversely affecting the continued performance of the computer. These same tests also revealed that once uninstalled, the user stopped functioning altogether. Speaking with Aster Labrador this morning, the creator of Emacspeak pointed out that these results once again emphasize the user-centric design of Emacspeak; "It is the user --and not the computer-- that stops functioning when Emacspeak is uninstalled!". Note from Aster: (UnDoctored Videos Inc. is currently looking for volunteers to star in a video demonstrating such complete user failure). History: -------- The decision to go commercial is the start of a new chapter in Emacspeak's checkered history. Obtaining Emacspeak: -------------------- Visit Emacspeak at http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman --You can also pick up emacspeak via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/raman/emacspeak/. You can subscribe to the emacspeak mailing list by sending mail to the request address . About Emacspeak: --------------- Based at Cornell (NY) --home to Auditory User Interfaces (AUI) on the WWW-- Emacspeak is mirrored world-wide by an international netwrok of software archives and voluntarily bundled with all major Linux distributions on CDROM. On Monday, April 12, 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Emacspeak mailing list is archived at --thanks to Greg Priest-Dorman. About This Release: ------------------- This press release is certified to be Y2K compliant. More importantly, the software described is W2K free. Press/Analyst Contact: Aster Labrador http://cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/aster/aster.gif Windows-Free (WF) is a favorite battle-cry of The League Against Forced Fenestration (LAFF); --see http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm for details on the ill-effects of Forced Fenestration. CopyWrite )C( Aster Labrador. All Writes Reserved. WonderDog (DM),BlackDog (DM) and Labrador (DM) are Registered Dogmarks of Aster Labrador. All other dogs belong to their respective owners.