That's good to hear that they continue to develop OutSpoken. I heard about
a year ago that they had decided not to continue their development of
OutSpoken. I must of misunderstood the person or they changed their mind.
Sorry for the mis-information,
Jon
At 10:57 AM 1/3/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Jon, I checked with ALVA yesterday after your email. They are still
>selling and supporting outSPOKEN for the Macintosh computers (Powermac,
>G3, G4 using System 9). The party line is that they will come out with a
>system 10 version of outSPOKEN for the Mac, but they do not have a release
>date.
>
>"Hello
>
>ALVA is planning to develop an outSPOKEN version that is compatible with
>OS X. However, we do not have a release date at this time.
>
>************
>Robin Earth
>Customer Service
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>ALVA Access Group, Inc.
>436 14th Street, Suite 700
>Oakland, CA 94612 USA"
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jon Gunderson [<mailto:[log in to unmask]>mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 3:47 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Morse Code and the Mac
>
>OutSpoken is currently not being supported by Alva, the company that owns
>it. Alva has discontinued development for the new version of the Mac OS.
>
>Other companies like Madenta have dropped their support of the Mac for
>their products. Apparently as new versions of the Mac OS do not support
>accessibility and the company does not seem to be helping AT developers
>redesining their products to support accessibility.
>
>Many of the accessibility engineers at Apple moved to Microsoft in the late
>90s as Apple down sized their accessibility division.
>
>Jon
>
>At 03:02 PM 1/2/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>
> >OutSpoken is the major screen reader for Mac. Do you find it difficult to
> >use?
> >I do agree with you that Apple has changed directions many times. They
> >have often reminded me of Atari. Still, System 10 is a new direction, the
> >new CPU is very good and Steve Jobs is back!
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Jim Rebman
> >[<<mailto:[log in to unmask]>mailto:[log in to unmask]>mailto:sea
> [log in to unmask]]
> >Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 3:09 PM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Morse Code and the Mac
> >
> >I don't disagree with your comments vis a vis Microsoft and the facts of
> >life why a particular OS is being supported by AT vendors, but two
> >additional points are in order:
> >
> >1) Apple made a corporate level decision to cut staff and funding in the
> >area of accessibility several years ago and that has definately hurt them
> >outside the K-12 market. Many of those let go such as Bob Glass, Earl
> >Johnson, and Gary Moulton took their experiences to other places (Sun and
> >Microsoft), where they have continued to do good work that benefits those
> >of us who depend on these technologies.
> >
> >2) Apple is still the worst choice for a blind person who relies on a
> >screen reader for access, and nothing substantial has been done about this
> >in many years now. Normally I wouldn't care because I have other choices,
> >but it is the blind kids in schools who are forced to use Macs that bothers
> >me (and yes, I know of a blind kid in our local school district who is
> >lagging way behind his fellow students and who is basically unprepared to
> >further his education or enter the workforce as anything other than a
> >laborer because he can't use a computer effectively because his computer
> >won't allow him the kind of access to software and information that his
> >peers have)
> >
> > >>>>
> >
> >The Mac OS was accessible when Microsoft considered it an unnecessary
> >expense. The first GUI screen reader was for the Mac. Mac still has the
> >only system-based text enlarger that actually separates the typing cursor
> >from the viewing window, thus allowing a user to not only see something
> >enlarged but also type something in as enlarged without having to change
> >the font.
> >
> >------------------------------
> >James A. Rebman
> >
> >Cognitive Levers Project
> >Center for Life-Long Learning and Design
> >Department of Computer Science
> >University of Colorado, Boulder
> >
> >"In times of change, the learners will inherit the earth while the learned
> >will find themselves beautifully equipped for a world that no longer
> exists."
> >
> >- Eric Hoffer
>
>Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
>Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
>Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
>MC-574
>College of Applied Life Studies
>University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
>1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820
>
>Voice: (217) 244-5870
>Fax: (217) 333-0248
>
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>WWW: <http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund>http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
>WWW: <http://www.w3.org/wai/ua>http://www.w3.org/wai/ua
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820
Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
WWW: http://www.w3.org/wai/ua
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