I think it comes down to marketing: however, as in all marketing, the legitimacy of the elements of the sales pitch depend heavily
on the needs and predelections of the end-user--or should...  (grin)  This is where the model falls apart, Rehaber's find it easiest to
do things from a cookbook, and good marketers make it easier and appeal to that need.

In the old days, when computer memory was limited, you could increase the "out of the box" power of a program by providing an
ability to use macros with the program to reduce the number of repetitive keystrokes an end-user would have to make, or
memorize...  Also, the use of macros and later "scripts" more elaborate little programs written under a dialect of C++, made it
possible for JFW to react to things going on on the screen and let the user know of some important change according to the
nature of the application he/she was running.  This is definitely a strength when there is an end-user or a surrogate for him/her who
can write the scripts.  It makes it possible to customize the behaviors of a screen reader so that, for instance, if a user is in a
telemarketing job, when a new call pops up on the screen, the caller's name, and other information pertinent to the person making
the call is read, rather than having a screen full of information read distracting or slowing down the person performing the job who
might otherwise have to listen to everything...  That's somewhat of a simplification, because it also allows use of information about
classes of objects (buttons or icons) representing things going on on the screen to be culled from a data base of labels prepared to
describe these objects, even if there isn't any actual text on the screen pertaining to them.

The down side of this approach is the learning curve and learning style necessary to enable someone to write these scripts and
macros.

Another aspect of JFW is that it depends heavily on key combinations utilizing the numeric keypad as its locus of interface for
interrogating the screen about specific items; i.e. "insert t" to have the title of the screen in focus read...  Some like the convention
of placing the screen reader's user interface on the numeric keypad because it is perhaps easier for some, especially those doing
repetitive tasks who don't have good keyboarding skills, to keep oriented to this keypad rather than the "qwerty" portion of the
keyboard...  My bias is toward keeping my hands on the "qwerty" portion of the keyboard and having reading functions assigned
to letters having some nemonic relationship with the intended reading command.

All of this is subjective, and in the real world, where one is looking for a local user-base to learn from and gain support from during
the larning curve, or to find someone to hire to customize their screen reading program to a vocational or avocational need...

 However, there are other programs around which have these characteristics, and can do much more out of the box, for the user
who may find themselves having to quickly acquaint themselves with a variety of applications.  This is one reason that many of us
have more than one screen reader.  Each screen reader has it's weaknesses and strength, and there is no such thing as "best"
per se.  In a more perfect world, end-users, their educators and rehabilitators would have the time to devote and knowledge
necessary to evaluate the user's needs in contrast to the interface and documentation used by each screen reader/character
recognition program, or even application to be considered.  However, that isn't usually possible, most people have limits on the
depth and breadth of their knowledge of the universe of applications including adaptive ones, states have exclusive purchasing
contracts, and the level of local support from the user community dictate the choices of product most often.  And of course, where
applications are concerned, it is often necessary to conform to corporate decisions pertaining to what application one will use to
get their job done, and one screen reader may have superior configurations pertaining to the specific application...

Oh yes, one can, remap the keyboard with many screen readers, but this is problematic unless the user knows how to turn this map
on and off quickly and knows the out of the box key combinations when he/she is working with tech support from the screen
reader vendor.  Also, the labels and reformating of screen used by screen readers may make it more difficult to work with sighted
colleagues or on the phone tech support personnel, especially when end-users are insulated from the actual screen layouts and
methods used by an operating by an overly helpful/protective screen reader...

W. Nick Dotson

On Tue, 13 Mar 2001 18:07:52 -0800, J Cath wrote:

Hi,

JAWS seems to be a very popular screen reader.  Why do
many people choose it over the other various screen
readers?

Thank you.

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W. Nick Dotson/Proprietor of Dots-On Enterprises
and
Support Technician for Kurzweil Educational 1000