This problem is compounded by the short active life of many software products. GUI-based operating systems are evolving so rapidly and are so complex that manufacturers of screen reading programs are barely able to bring a product to market before the operating system is overtaken by a newer version. While several of the leading software companies, notably Microsoft and Sun, have adopted a very responsible attitude towards producing accessible products, there are still far too many companies that give only lip service to accessibility or else ignore it altogether. In spite of the domination of Microsoft and Sun in the workplace, there are millions of computers and many software products from other sources that have poor or non-existent access. There are several different views about where the responsibility for access lies.
Some groups believe that it lies with equipment and software manufacturers.
Others believe that it lies with the user or rehabilitation organizations. For the following reasons, we believe it lies somewhere between these two extremes. In a perfect world, all products would fall into the first category. In the real world, however, there are very few products in the first category and far too many in the third. Some disability advocates believe that legislation should be used to force all manufacturers to create only category-one products.