To GW Micro Webmaster and Support,

Clicking on the link to send this email to you was my only
success after nearly 3 hours of trying to access your website.
This tragic irony has brought about an epiphany that I am here sharing with a
Visually Impaired Computer Users Group that I subscribe to.

A Quick Background. In 1994, I first got Vocal-Eyes because the
New Jersey Commission for the Blind suggested it, and I simply
trusted their guidance, and your company, too. What did I think
of the product? Well, it was a noticeable improvement over the
1990 version of Arctic Vision that I had been using, as would be
expected, although the much better computer and the DEC Talk
might have had a lot to do with my perception. Vocal-Eyes had
some things that I liked, and other things that were quirky, but
I learned to live with both, because I got used to them, or
because they were too difficult, or not possible to alter.

In 1997, when I first got on the Internet, it was a DOS-based
system that revealed even more of Vocal-Eyes's quirks. They
frustrated me, but I was again learning to work around them.

In 1999, I got a laptop with Window-Eyes version 3.0, which I
selected because my familiarity with Vocal-Eyes made me believe I
would have an easier time learning it. What did I think of
Window-Eyes? I liked it less than Vocal-Eyes because of its
inferior reading of the DOS-based version of Word Perfect that I
was still using. This was probably due to the synthesizer driver
or sound board. so I forgave it.

Dealing with the windows environment on the Internet, Window-Eyes
did not give me the access that I was promised and so eagerly
awaiting. In trying to surf the net and access links, I was
repeatedly frustrated, but didn't know if the fault was my
inexperience with the Internet, the windows environment, or the
new programs such as Internet Explorer and browsers. I also
blamed the advancing technological demands that out-paced my
version 3.0.

I've gotten used to running into dead ends on the Internet, such
as when I can't get to a link or some text that I know is on the
screen. Not being able to access links such as the one labeled
BACK, means that I often have to reopen a website that I am
reading because I can't go back to the home page. Window-Eyes
also does what I called "phantom reading". That is, I hear it
reading words that I can't locate with my cursor, and sometimes a
sighted assistant can't find the words on the screen at all.

Because of the many functions that I can't do with Window-Eyes, I
expect that about half of my tasks will either be inefficient or
impossible. In certain situations, somebody on the phone will ask
me if I can look at their webpage, and I prefer to say that my
computer is being repaired, rather than to explain why using the
Internet is a crap shoot for me, and risk making them question my
professional competence.

I was looking forward to treating myself to a Christmas gift of a
state-of-the-art screen reader. I found out that there is a demo
of Window-Eyes 4.11 on the GW Micro website, and so, on this
evening of Christmas day, I got on line and was quite eager to
download it.

Although I had gotten into the habit of requesting sighted
assistance when I needed reliable use of the Internet, I was
confident that I could do this operation alone. After all, I was
using a GW Micro product to access the GW Micro website. If
anybody were to be welcome at this website, it should certainly
be me, a long-time and loyal customer visiting to get an upgrade;
and if my Window-Eyes couldn't access the website of its parent
company, what chance would it have on typical websites?

I spent about 3 hours clicking on the links, filling out my
information, clicking some more, waiting at silent screens,
repeating, trying another link, another blind alley then another
link, waiting to find out if it's downloading, but no, try again,
etc.

And here is my epiphany: Perhaps I've been blaming myself too
much for my computer frustrations. The reality may simply be that
GW Micro products are mediocre or incompatible with my instincts
and logical approach to computer tasks.

Now I'm adding these numbers together: After about a total of 8
years of using GW Micro screen-reading products, why have I never
recommended them to anybody? Why has surfing the net never become
easy, reliable and enjoyable? Why wasn't I able to easily access
the GW Micro website with Window-Eyes?

It has become a clich‚ that computer tech companies always blame
the customer. Question: How many Microsoft technicians does it
take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: None. It's your fault.
This strategy is a way of intimidating users and preventing us
from getting the products to work to our complete satisfaction. I
too had come to blame myself for my technical shortcomings. I was
about to give GW Micro the benefit of my doubts when I was
favoring the company for a $150 upgrade and trying to get a demo
of it.

If I had had this frustration with another website -- which too
often has been the case -- I would have leaned toward blaming my
own skills, unenlightened web designers and software engineers,
or the Internet in general. But no more.

If somebody with my years of familiarity with the Internet, my
experience with GW Micro screen-readers, with my New York
University, magna cum laude intelligence, and the desire to give
GW Micro more business can't easily get a demo from its website,
how do new customers feel and cope? Perhaps they are as I had
been: believing that the problem lies with their own
inadequacies.

But my failure to download the demo -- whether the fault of the
GW Micro website or Window-Eyes -- strongly tells me that the
incompetence is far from entirely mine. This insight, together
with my newly revised assessment of my experience with Vocal-Eyes
and Window-Eyes, is ominous for the performance of version 4.11,
when and if I finally get the demo.

And to think, if I just went ahead and bought the upgrade, I'd
still be frustrated with myself or the usual suspects.

While I would appreciate reading emails of support, I am
predicting responses to the tune of, "Oh, were you using Internet
Explorer blah blah blah? Well, what do you expect when you
connect with a 12 gauge copper alloy telephone cord and a
medieval modem that only runs at blah blah per nanno-second..."
But this time and at last, I'm not taking the rap. If GW Micro
can legitimately pass the buck for having a website that is
inaccessible to its own software, running on perfectly
functioning equipment., and operated by an experienced,
solicitous customer who is seeking to buy its merchandise, then
every other web designer has a better excuse for blowing me off.

Peter Seymour


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