OATS ("Open Source Assistive Technology Software") is a source code repository or " forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 [1] with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive technology software. It also allows users to find other software that is free but not open source, [2] and open-source software that is developed elsewhere, for example NVDA, [3] Orca [4] and FireVox. [5]
The OATS website was launched at the end of the OATS project, a one-year pilot project that ended in March 2006, and claimed to be the first open-source repository dedicated to assistive technology. [2] [6] In April 2006, the British Computer Society (BCS) announced that it was backing the OATS project; [7] in August 2006, the British Computer Society's Open Source Specialist Group organised a meeting about the project. [8]
The OATS project was made up of five partner organisations co-ordinated by the ACE Centre. [9] The OATS repository wants to offer an efficient and intuitive way to access good quality assistive technology. [10] The OATS repository offers the following facilities to developers: [11]
- project pages to document and manage a software project,
- a code repository ( Subversion),
- a project management system ( Trac or Poi).
See also
References
- ^ Steve Lee: " OATSoft, a new service and a landmark for Accessibility", 6 May 2006.
- ^ a b OATS: Project Summary Archived 2009-10-25 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) Archived 2010-10-22 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: Orca Archived 2009-09-11 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: Fire Vox Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: OATS Launch Press Release Archived 2011-02-07 at the Wayback Machine, 3 May 2006.
- ^ Justin Richards: " BCS backs open source project to boost software for disabled users" Computer Weekly, Thursday 20 April 2006.
- ^ " OATS Meeting Aftermath", BCS Open Source Specialist Group Blog, Friday, August 11th 2006.
- ^ OATS: OATS Consortium Archived 2010-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: Project Context Archived 2009-10-25 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ OATS: Hosting on OATS Archived 2011-06-01 at the Wayback Machine.
External links
- OATS Software Archived 2010-05-29 at the Wayback Machine - interface to search software
- The OATS Forge Archived 2010-01-06 at the Wayback Machine - for developers