Re: linux with sighted help?

[Jason White <jasonw ariel ucs unimelb edu au>]

I agree completely with Hans on this point. One of the  advantages of
Unix-like operating systems is precisely that the user interface is not
part of the Kernel. One can thus choose the X Window System (with xdm, for
instance), a character-based terminal, another windowing system, or any
future interface that might be developed, without affecting the kernel.
The interface is thus separated from the functionality of the operating
system. This is not the case in certain other systems that one could
mention where a graphical interface is part of the core product and no
alternative can be substituted at will.

Speech, except for device drivers, and especially in the case of
sophisticated user interfaces, does not belong in the kernel.