My concern is that if Narrator does drive JAWS, Window Eyes, and the
rest out of business then employment options for the blind will suffer.
Sure, if you work in a shop that only uses Apple products and
applications then you can probably get by with VoiceOver, and if you
work in a shop that uses only Microsoft products and applications then
you can probably get by with this hypothetical Narrator. What if you
want to work in a shop that uses Lotus Notes instead of Exchange though
or Firefox instead of Internet Explorer or Thunderbird instead of
Outlook or Open Office instead of Microsoft Office, Google instead of
Bing and so on?
I know I wouldn't have been employed for the last 20 plus years if it
hadn't been for JAWS, at least not at the job I've been doing. Since the
company I worked for uses Lotus Notes, Symphony, Firefox and so on, I'm
not sure a Narrator would have met my needs either.
I've heard the argument that it's up to the application developers to
write to the accessibility specifications and make their applications
accessible, so the burden is on Lotus, Mozilla and so on. This is true
today though and the area is still murky enough that it hasn't happened
yet. I know I don't want to lose my job while the operating system
developers, application developers, specification authors are all
pointing fingers at why something doesn't work.
Apple has done a great job, and they've done a lot to make me reconsider
my position on this issue. I hear of a lot of blind people switching to
Apple products for home use, but I don't hear a lot about blind
professionals using VoiceOver in their jobs, and I haven't heard that
applications like Pages, Numbers and Keynote are as usable by the blind
as MS Office is.
On 10/10/2013 12:03 AM, Albert Ruel wrote:
> Jeff, I live in the hope that Microsoft will eventually tune up
> Narrator to the point where JAWS and the rest will be run out of town.
> Like Voice Over on the Mac, there's no reason why they shouldn't be
> expected to provide their system to all users. All they have to do is
> to make their operating system accessible to a good built-in screen
> reader and magnifier, then build in those access tool.
>
> On 10/9/13, Jeff Kenyon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Unfortunately, I agree with you on that. I don't know what will bring it
>> back to what was in the early days.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Oct 9, 2013, at 2:42 PM, Albert Ruel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all. At work I've tried to use JAWS 13 and due to video card
>>> conflicks with the Del computer and XP that I'm using we ended up
>>> having to dial it back to JAWS 12. It's stable now and gives me
>>> access to all that I need so will likely stay there for the
>>> foreseeable future.
>>>
>>> In my opinion, FS doesn't do much in their upgrades to support our
>>> needs; they're more focussed on their own financial needs so deliver
>>> annual upgrades that do little but add to our lives additional layers
>>> of hassel. That's my rant for the day.
>>>
>>> Thx, Albert
>>>
>>> On 10/9/13, Jeff Kenyon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, what is new and 15?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
>>>> Archived on the World Wide Web at
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> ***
>>>
>>> Albert A. Ruel
>>> From an Island in the Pacific
>>> Parksville BC Canada
>>>
>>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>> Twitter: @albertruel
>>>
>>> Life is a Journey, not a destination. Enjoy the trip.
>>>
>>>
>>> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
>>> Archived on the World Wide Web at
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>>
>
>
--
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
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