Here is the link to the software:

http://www.cloneware.net/

Here is the link to the article with all the links to sources:

http://www.eschoolnews.org/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=2862


on 7/30/01 1:35 PM, MARLENE MCINTOSH at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Could you please send the Link again to the website?
>
> Thanks!
> Marlene McIntosh
> Cambrian College
>
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 07/30/01 09:06 AM >>>
> This could be a cost effective product for students or others who have
> difficulty reading whether due to learning, visual or other physical
> challenges and perhaps would be worth a look for home and
> school.
>
> Software firm's give-away strategy: 'Try it, You'll like it'
>
>
> By Cara Branigan, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
>
> July 26, 2001
>
> The Michigan-based software company cheerfully acknowledges it:
> Giving away a computer program that reads text out loud to help visually
> impaired or literacy-challenged students is a blatant marketing gimmick. "At
> this point, we've given Scan and Read away to more than 4,000 schools and
> libraries," said Steve Timmer, president of Premier Programming Solutions.
>
> The company is offering every school a free single-user license for its Scan
> and Read software package, so a student who needs it can have the
> opportunity
> to use this technology. "Our competitors sell the software starting at
> $1,000, and that's ridiculous," declared Kenneth Springer, chief operating
> officer of Premier Programming Solutions. "Schools are on a tight budget"
>
> "We're a very small company, and we don't do much marketing," Springer
> added. "Our products don't cost very much, so our budget is small. But we
> don't want to sell it for $1,000." Premier Programming Solutions, which has
> only three employees, said the company expects to get subsequent sales from
> customers who first try out the software in schools, libraries, literacy
> groups, and other non-profit settings. "It's inexpensive enough that if a
> child has been using it at school, then a parent can affod to buy it for at
> home, too," Timmer said. "Sure it's a marketing scheme, but it's easier to
> show people how it works than it is to explain it." Timmer, a software
> developer and former nuclear engineer, developed the Scan and Read system in
> his basement after losing most of his vision to macular degeneration in
> 1996.
>
> He needed something to assist him in reading, but found the products on the
> market too expensive and complicated. "When I first lost my vision, I
> quickly
> became frustrated with the price and complexity of other text-to-voice
> conversion programs," he said. "Some people can pay $1,000 but most people
> can't." Scan and Read, which is available to the public for $89.95,
> translates written text into spoken language. It will read any type of
> printed material including computer files, eBooks, books, magazines, and
> forms. "You can pull up any existing text file or scan in any text-like a
> book or newspaper-and it'll read it to you," Springer said. It works with
> any Windows-based PC and any standard flatbed scanner. Users must turn the
> text into a digital format by scanning the text. The software highlights
> each
> word on the screen as it reads the text aloud. "You can read a letter or
> line
> at a time, so it helps students follow along," Springer said. It also lets
> users control how fast the computer reads, and it can read in 17 different
> voices, according to company literature. Dianne Yarnell, technology
> coordinator at the Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center, which operates
> 53
> adult literacy centers in the state, was delighted to get the Scan and Read
> software for free. "I'm a scrounger so the first thing I did when I heard
> about Scan and Read was to call for a free copy," Yarnell said. "This is one
> of those programs that if it wasn't offered for free I would have scraped
> together the money to buy it." Although Yarnell didn't compare any competing
> products, she liked the Scan and Read program on the first glance. "When I
> first loaded it and looked at it,  watched to see if I had to do any
> training with our teachers, and I didn't have to do anything," Yarnell said.
>
> "It's that easy to use." Because students in adult literacy programs often
> don't have computer skills, the opportunity to use software to learn to read
> is a real bonus, said Yarnell. "To me the computer is a basic tool. Using
> this software kind of kills two birds with one stone. [Users are] learning
> to
> use the mouse and computer, and they're learning to read," Yarnell said.
> Some
> competitors, such as Kurzweil, part of the Lernout & Hauspie group, sell
> text-to-speech programs that are more robust and more expensive than Scan
> and
> Read. Kurzweil offers the three different scanning and reading products, the
> company said: The Kurzweil 3000 for $1,895 assists those with learning
> disabilities, the MagniReader at $349 is for people with impaired vision,
> and
> the Kurzweil 1000 for $995 is for the blind. Unlike Scan and Read, the
> Kurzweill 1000 can read text in 170 languages and switch between different
> languages instantly. "There's always a market that wants something for free,
> but those aren't the customers who buy Kurzweil," said David Bradburn,
> director of product management at Kurzweil. "We'd like to give our product
> away too, but we're a for-profit company." According to one market analyst,
> newer companies with cheaper, smaller products often threaten
> more-established products like the Kurzweil line, but not always. "Something
> that happens with mature companies is that they don't want to compete on
> price but on features," said Peter Stokes, executive vice president at
> Eduventures.com. Then, a new company comes along and offers a cheaper,
> lighter version of the product and often kills the giant company. So will
> this marketing ploy help Premier Programming Solutions gain market share?
>
> "Unless the product serves a real need of the institution, [giving it away
> for free] is not going to get the marketing bang their expecting," Stokes
> said. "The critical challeng for that strategy to succeed is moving beyond
> schools saying 'Yes, they'll take it,' to schools using it effectively." The
> worst possibility, according to Stokes: Potential customers would take the
> software because it's free, but then never used it. "Giving stuff away free
> to teachers does not necessarily result in sales or translate into paying
> customers," Stokes said. "It's definitely a difficult row to hoe" To obtain
> Scan and Read, call the company at (517) 668-8188 or visit
> its web site to
> apply for a free copy or to download a demonstration copy. Links:


Catherine Alfieri
7 Summer Tree
Pittsford, NY 14534
716-586-1682
Monroe County Women's Disability Network
[log in to unmask]
http://www.mcwdn.org
VirtEd
http://www.mcwdn.org/VirtEd2.html
Personal page
http://www.mcwdn.org/AlfieriMain.html
"See with your heart, Speak with your heart!"