<s>
Assistive	B-Language
Technology	I-Language
Service	I-Language
Provider	I-Language
Interface	I-Language
(	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
)	O
is	O
a	O
platform-neutral	O
framework	O
for	O
providing	O
bi-directional	O
communication	O
between	O
assistive	O
technologies	O
(	O
AT	O
)	O
and	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
architecture	O
,	O
client	O
and	O
server	O
need	O
to	O
communicate	O
with	O
each	O
other	O
,	O
usually	O
using	O
the	O
IPC	B-Operating_System
technology	O
of	O
the	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
GNOME	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
two	O
different	O
APIs	O
,	O
one	O
for	O
the	O
client-side	O
(	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
)	O
and	O
a	O
different	O
one	O
for	O
the	O
server-side	O
(	O
Accessibility	B-Language
Toolkit	I-Language
(	O
ATK	O
)	O
)	O
due	O
to	O
historical	O
reasons	O
related	O
to	O
the	O
underlying	O
technologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT-SPI	B-Language
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
for	O
using	O
Common	B-Architecture
Object	I-Architecture
Request	I-Architecture
Broker	I-Architecture
Architecture	I-Architecture
,	O
an	O
object-based	O
IPC/RPC	O
technology	O
,	O
for	O
its	O
transport	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
specification	O
itself	O
was	O
tied	O
to	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
as	O
it	O
was	O
defined	O
in	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
IDL	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT-SPI	B-Language
used	O
the	O
GNOME	O
project	O
's	O
own	O
fast	O
and	O
lightweight	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
implementation	O
,	O
ORBit	B-Application
,	O
and	O
its	O
own	O
framework	O
for	O
creating	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
components	O
,	O
Bonobo	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GNOME	O
project	O
decided	O
that	O
the	O
3.0	O
release	O
will	O
be	O
free	O
of	O
ORBit	B-Application
and	O
Bonobo	B-Language
meaning	O
a	O
D-Bus	B-Language
AT-SPI	B-Language
solution	O
was	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
an	O
effort	O
to	O
move	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
forward	O
,	O
a	O
D-Bus	B-Language
project	O
was	O
started	O
in	O
November	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
D-Bus	B-Language
version	O
of	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
,	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
version	O
2	O
,	O
was	O
released	O
along	O
with	O
GNOME	O
3.0	O
in	O
April	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT-SPI	B-Language
provides	O
an	O
ATK	O
bridge	O
,	O
so	O
all	O
the	O
widget	O
systems	O
or	O
applications	O
that	O
implement	O
ATK	O
will	O
automatically	O
communicate	O
all	O
their	O
events	O
to	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GNOME	O
widget	O
system	O
,	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
or	O
Mozilla	B-Operating_System
applications	O
like	O
Firefox	B-Application
and	O
Thunderbird	B-Application
for	O
Linux	O
implement	O
ATK	O
,	O
so	O
they	O
communicate	O
out-of-box	O
with	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
completely	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
without	O
implementing	O
ATK	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
D-Bus	B-Language
migration	O
made	O
possible	O
that	O
Qt	B-Language
added	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Qt	B-Language
implemented	O
its	O
own	O
bridge	O
to	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
that	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
alpha	O
status	O
in	O
August	O
2011	O
for	O
testing	O
purposes	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
integrated	O
into	O
Qt	B-Language
for	O
general	O
use	O
a	O
year	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT/SPI	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Language
Accessibility	I-Language
Framework	O
that	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Oracle	O
acquired	O
Sun	O
in	O
2010	O
they	O
cut	O
developer	O
jobs	O
of	O
full-time	O
developers	O
working	O
on	O
GNOME	B-Language
accessibility	I-Language
components	O
like	O
the	O
Accessibility	B-Language
Toolkit	I-Language
ATK	O
and	O
the	O
Orca	O
screen	O
reader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT-SPI	B-Language
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
automated	O
testing	O
of	O
user	O
interfaces	O
,	O
with	O
tools	O
such	O
as	O
Linux	B-Language
Desktop	I-Language
Testing	I-Language
Project	I-Language
and	O
Dogtail	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT-SPI	B-Language
is	O
released	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Library	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
License	I-Application
(	O
LGPL	B-Application
)	O
version	O
2	O
.	O
</s>
