Hi Dick,

Yes, you are right. There is a growing group of people relying on speech
including older people.
The frewware and shareware screen magnifier and text-to-speech utilities
are very popular on magnifiers.org.
For most of those people the commercial screen magnifiers and screen
readers are too expensive.
The free WebFormator program for Windows and a free text-to-speech program
are a great help for a lot of users.

As far as I know ALVA has stopped developing OUTspoken, because they have
other priorities. I think one of the reasons is, that they didn't get much
market participation with OUTSpoken for Windows and the people in the
Netherlands who own ALVA realy do not know much from Macintosh.
It is the same problem as with Linux. One of the most FAQ's on
magnifiers.org is a full screen magnifier for Linux, but leading companies
like Dolphin, AiSquared, GW-Micro and Freedom Scientific are concentrating
on Windows.

As long as we are dependend on third party AT Vendors and accessibility is
not included in the Operating System itself, we are dependent on those
third companies and we have not much to choose from.

Regards Peter Verhoeven

At 15:50 05-04-2002 -0600, you wrote:
>I would LOVE to see OutSpoken upgraded to handle the Web. The other thing
>is the use of speech is not just a blind issue. I have taught a number of
>users with low vision and LD, who rely on the use of a screen reader.
>
>Dick
>
>At 04:40 PM 4/5/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>>Here in Maine where the departing administration of Governor Angus King has
>>managed to push through a laptops for 7th graders program, we have been told
>>verbally by an Alva Access Group representative that they intend to develop
>>a version of OutSpoken for Mac on the new OSX.  No estimated delivery date
>>has been announced.  This information cannot be found on Alva's web site and
>>this statement from the Alva rep comes in the context of a controversy about
>>the accessibility of the Apple iBook laptops for blind students. - Jon
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Penny Gray [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 11:04 AM
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: screen reader for Macintosh
>>
>>
>>Hello everyone,
>>
>>I apologize if this has been tossed about before, but, I need to know if
>>there are any screen reader's for the Macintosh.  I am aware of Outspoken
>>but, I'm not sure if the manufacturer is going to continue to support this
>>product and/or develop it for current and future operating systems.
>>
>>This is for a student taking a course in music that is Macintosh computer
>>based.
>>
>>Thanks in advance.
>>
>>Sincerely, Penny
>>
>>****************************************
>>Penny Gray
>>Adaptive Technology Specialist
>>Disability Services
>>Bucks Co. Community College
>>Newtown, PA 18940
>>[log in to unmask]
>>215-968-8104
>>http://www.bucks.edu/services/disability/
>>*****************************************
>>"If it takes a village to raise a child,
>>then, it takes the entire campus to support the
>>adaptive technology needs of students with disabilities."
>>EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information)
>