
Let Maya Speak For Herself - dutchbrit
http://www.change.org/petitions/let-maya-speak-for-herself
======
praptak
Maybe someone is writing a similar app for a less totalitarian platform? I'd
gladly support such effort by donating.

~~~
dutchbrit
I agree 100%, and actually emailed Maya's parents with an idea of creating an
Android Tablet App, and donate a Tablet to them to test/keep. Also created a
thread looking for likeminded developers here that would want to help develop
such an app: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4107019>

If anyone is interested in hacking something cool together, send me an email:
sam.granger@gmail.com

They received a few similar emails, and replied to me today. This part was
regarding my idea on creating an Android App:

"App design, programming features, and all of the software-related stuff goes
right over my head! I appreciate you offering your help---the best people to
talk to about tech-related solutions would be the team at Speak for Yourself,
who you can reach at this email address: info[ _@_ ]speakforyourself.org There
have been some other similar emails that have come my way, but I've just
directed them all over to the SFY team. They would be the best people to ask
about whether there are others to assemble."

I did send them an email, offering help, but I doubt they'd be interested
since "patents" and a possible lawsuit is probably their current main concern.

To be honest, I don't think creating an app would be all that hard, and to
avoid having to speak in thousands of words (which I'd consider to be the
dullest part), you'd be able to generate the word sounds through Google's Text
to Speech API.

At the end of the day, I hope the App gets accepted back into the store, only
time will tell... In the meantime, something open source could be developed in
no time.

~~~
roel_v
"I did send them an email, offering help, but I doubt they'd be interested
since "patents" and a possible lawsuit is probably their current main
concern."

There's that, and also the "hey would you help us re-create your product so
that we can give it away for free and destroy your business" angle.

------
xd
Would I be right in understanding; Apple can remove an application, from your
devices, you have already paid for?

Edit: This comment summed up my feelings on the subject:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4104485>

~~~
nicholassmith
Yes, so can Android, and they can remotely install apps too:
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/28/google_remote_androi...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/28/google_remote_android_application_install/)

------
ColinWright
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103344>

~~~
dutchbrit
Thanks for adding the link!

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drcube
They keep talking about Apple updating the OS, but why in the world would they
let that happen?

Turn updates off! This is your child's voice, don't put somebody else in
control of it!

Turn off wireless, mobile data, everything. This should be a dedicated device,
and if I were the family, I wouldn't use it for anything else, and wouldn't
allow any changes.

I mean, it sucks for the kids who don't have this app yet who need it, but for
people who rely on it already, don't just sit there and lament the sword of
Damocles dangling over your head, get out from under it.

~~~
myko
They haven't let that happen, but they're worried about future updates, etc.

FTA:

> At the moment, we still have the app. But we are now shadowed by a huge,
> impending threat. With the removal of Speak for Yourself from the iTunes
> store, the SfY team has lost the ability to send out updates or repairs to
> the people who are currently using the app. At this point, an update from
> Apple to the iPad's operating system could render SfY useless. Our app could
> stop working, and Maya would be left unable to speak, and no one would be
> able to help us.

~~~
drcube
I know, that's my point. I don't have an iPad, but can't you turn off updates?
Can't you turn off networking entirely? If so, how would an update even occur?

Don't just sit there in fear of an update, _prevent it_.

~~~
Splines
I think the larger issue is that any iPads purchased in the future may not be
compatible with this software.

~~~
drcube
Sure, I'm not saying there isn't an issue here. Apple is in the wrong and so
are the litigators in the patent suit.

My point is that they shouldn't be in fear of their daughter losing her voice
any time soon. Are other kids going to lose by not having this app available
in the future? Yes. Are they prevented from getting any software updates to
this app? Yes. Will their ipad eventually die? Yes. Should they be afraid of
Apple remotely removing their app from their device or updating the OS so that
the app no longer works? No, they shouldn't be.

------
seclorum
This is an opportunity for someone to write a Speaking app in a platform like
MOAI (<http://getmoai.com/>), which will put the app on Windows, MacOSX,
Linux, iOS and Android platforms, where there will never be a question again
about whether it can be yanked from a child in need.

------
jeromeparadis
Seriously? PRC are selling to people with disabilities a software with a
Windows 7 tablet:
[https://store.prentrom.com/product_info.php/cPath/11/product...](https://store.prentrom.com/product_info.php/cPath/11/products_id/142)

And check the options... +475$ for an additional 2GB of RAM! Prices for other
options are as outrageous.

I don't know what price Speak for Yourself was selling for but I'm glad they
are making these kind of tools more accessible.

------
gdubs
My understanding is that the patent is over the design & layout. Essentially
though, it's a sampler. Why not release an app that allows you to fill the
screen with icons/sounds from a library, and lay them out yourself (as the
user)? By default, the layout would be a bunch of blank buttons. But, if the
user wanted to, they could reconstruct the original interface on their own...

------
droithomme
The app they are running is in fact a near clone of an app sold by a company
who personally trained the authors of the clone. The app does use patented
technologies. So from a legal standpoint, there is little chance this app and
its company will survive the suit. One possibility for successful defense
would be software patent law unexpectedly collapsing during litigation due to
a surprise ruling by SCOTUS on some other case. This is a long shot. Another
possibility would be the defending party countersuing, challenging the
validity of the patent and succeeding. This is possible, but expensive to do
and will take many years. Even if they succeed overturning the patent, it will
still be challenging to prevail overall, given their intimate association with
the patent holder and likelihood of existing contracts between them.

So what to do in the meantime? Normally what would happen is the plaintiff
would seek the judge to issue an injunction against sales pending trial, which
would have to prove there is a high likelihood they would prevail in the
litigation.

This is being skipped because of the App Store situation, where there is a
gatekeeper able to remove products from sale for arbitrary or even nonexistent
reasons. The existence of these stores, free from competition (they certainly
can not go to the Amazon iPad store and download the software there because
Amazon isn't allowed access to install iPad apps therefore there is no
competition and Apple has a monopoly on running iOS software stores) is a
large threat to software and customer freedom.

I agree this is a really bad situation, but it is one that Apple customers
voluntarily accept when they buy products for this platform, and that
developers accept when they develop products for this platform. It's like
buying a house with an authoritarian Homeowners Association that is capricious
and issues fines for painting your fences the same color as before without
paying $2200 to the History, Style and Architecture Review Committee to have a
public hearing to review and approve your fence painting plans. It is no
secret the system exists or how it works, and persons subjecting them to the
whims of others in these situations know what they are getting into and accept
the terms.

So what to do? Many things are possible. Here are a few.

1\. As has been mentioned, disable all updates, turn off wifi, use this iPad
only for this app and buy another iPad if you want to update it.

2\. Purchase the multi-thousand dollar version on custom hardware published by
the plaintiff. (Presumably insurance companies normally pay for this option.)

3\. Jailbreak the iPad and convince the program's authors to release a
jailbroken compatible version.

4\. Convince the publisher to relocate outside the US in a country that does
not recognize software patents this encompassing and sell the program on the
Android pad platform.

~~~
Semaphor
> 2\. Purchase the multi-thousand dollar version on custom hardware published
> by the plaintiff. (Presumably insurance companies normally pay for this
> option.)

The family met with a salesman for the "original" software. It didn't work for
Maya. It's mentioned in the 2nd blog entry about this.

------
billpg
I wonder what the patent is for? Back in the 80s, I remember playing with some
software which had a command-line interface. You could type "*SAY Hello" and
"Hello" would come out of the speakers.

<http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/Speech.html>

~~~
mbreese
If I remember correctly, it's the organization of the buttons on-screen.

~~~
mcteapot
do you have a link to any article explaining the patent?

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tintin
Maybe a stupid question: but do you need iTunes to install an .ipa file? I've
seen some programs that can just install these files on any iDevice without
the use of iTunes.

And isn't Xcode and an Apple acount enough to sign the app?

~~~
spacemanaki
Are you talking about distributing ipa files outside of the App Store? As I
understand it, you also need $100/year and you're limited to provisioning 100
UDIDs. I don't think this is actually an alternative.

~~~
sp332
The app maker could sell a XCode project. Each end-user would pay Apple's $99
license fee, provision their own devices, and sign the app with their own key.

------
carb
Am I the only person that sees a huge 999999px tall red block whenever I visit
any change.org site? It's like someone added another <body> tag with
ridiculous properties.

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jheriko
it is a shame this sort of software is not just free to begin with... i know
people making it must make a living, but ideally this sort of thing would be
freely available. imo charging for this software is as ethically questionable
as blocking access to it - from a certain point of view they are identical
actions.

its also a shame that the ios platform is the way it is but apple have the
right to exercise their freedom.

~~~
rubinelli
No, these actions have nothing in common. The application had a reasonable,
one-time fee, that anyone who could afford an iPad could pay, so they were
_not_ blocking access to it at all.

~~~
jheriko
Its a fine argument, but its fundamentally flawed - firstly you assume the
person wanting the app actually bought the iPad and can afford one. The
concept of a gift invalidates this assumption.

Personally I feel this sort of software would be best serving the people who
would benefit from it if it was free and multi-platform. Targeting iPad and
having a sale price is an obvious money making strategy, and does, absolutely,
limit access to it.

------
wseymour
2689 votes at the time of writing. If everybody donated a dollar instead of a
signature, there'd be an app available on another platform by now.

~~~
its_so_on
if you can create a life-changing app that is worth this much to this many
people, and can do it for $2689 all-told, I'd like to get in touch with you.

~~~
VikingCoder
Creating the app is apparently not the challenge.

Defending it against patent suits is apparently the challenge.

