This is an interesting conversation thread
I stepped away from Jaws while Narrator was not a feasible solution.
My ability to afford upgrades in tech and assistive tech was limited
so I chose NVDA and spent some money for training. and a new Windows 7
computer.

I upgraded as needed and keep NVDA updated.
 Now that Windows 10 has settled down a bit I may begin to try
operating with Microsoft Edge;
  NVDA allows choice of  internet browser and other add ons for
functions I might want. I do hope Narrator will be a fully functional
product for the reasons stated by Ana.


On 1/5/17, Ana G <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I think the benefits of having a robust screen reader built in to
> Windows, that can be easily accessed on any computer, and that
> developers can readily test far outweigh the perceived drawback of
> having to learn yet another set of commands.
>
>
> Narrator is a back-up screen reader for me. many of its commands have
> been easy to learn (i.e., I get the logic behind them and can remember
> them without much fuss). Some commands are harder to remember, and the
> general workflow for some common tasks is different, of course, but the
> learning curve hasn't felt burdensome to me, maybe because things work
> better with Narrator often enough that there's a payoff for all my work.
>
>
> The greater payoff is the idea that, if Narrator becomes a robust screen
> reader, I can use any computer anywhere, not just the ones I own. This
> means I can use the computer in my classroom to lecture from, even when
> I forget my laptop. It means that blind students can walk into the
> computer labs on campus to get homework done and that any blind person
> can go into any public library when his or her computer is down to spend
> up to two hours applying for jobs, getting homework done, browsing the
> internet, shopping online, reading email, and so on. It means that newly
> blind people can use computers that are familiar to them without having
> to stress over the cost of specialized software, which no one they know
> knows anything about. It means that people on fixed incomes don't have
> to struggle with out-of-date versions of Jaws, the screen reader they
> got while they were students or while they had an open Rehab case, but
> haven't been able to update on their own, especially since Jaws updates
> are priced cumulatively so that you can't jump two versions without
> paying for two separate updates, a practice not followed by other
> programs. It also means I can be more aggressive about pursuing
> inaccessible websites and services since developers won't have the
> excuse of unfamiliar software to learn.
>
>
> As an old dog, I don't like learning new tricks myself, but I learn them
> when they benefit me even though the process is frustrating: I suddenly
> have to slow down and deal with mistakes and a new routine. As someone
> who's used Jaws for twenty years, I know that the price of the software
> hasn't gone down, that scripting isn't any less expensive or easier for
> non-techies, that the screen reader works well with the same group of
> applications and not well with everything else, and that competition in
> the windows screen reader space hasn't created an accessibility
> environment that's different from what Apple has done in its
> monoculture. So life with Jaws, good or bad, is not likely to change. I
> can stick with it because it's familiar, or I can choose to step outside
> my comfort zone to try something that may work better for me, especially
> at this point in the development process, when I can influence what
> features are included and how things work in general.
>
>
> I do agree that Microsoft needs to do a better job of providing help
> information. The version of Narrator for Windows 8 and 8.1 didn't have
> much in terms of web resources. There is now a set of web pages with
> Narrator commands that is useful, but for real tutorials, we'll probably
> need to rely on people in our community to develop them, just as
> tutorials by sighted people are developed by individuals in that community.
>
>
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>


-- 
 Steve Hoad


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