This post came through several lists. I haven't listened to this yet, but I
will be soon. I encourage everyone to do the same and make their own
judgments. I have played with Windows 8 narrator, and the voices are
good, especially one named Sira. I thought we were promised some access to
Word and HTML web pages, but I don't know for sure if this has happened.
You may also send your comments to the address of John Herzog below.
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: John J Herzog [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012 1:12 AM
Subject: windows 8 narrator, provides hype and not hope
Hello everyone,
I just completed a podcast explaining how narrator works in the new windows
8. Here is the link, and below are my opinions. I urge you to share this
with every blind person you know, before our time to change things for the
newest windows has passed.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15813782/windows%208%20narrator%20demo.mp3
Ok, now here are my thoughts. Long story short, Narrator is incredibly
disappointing, and yet Microsoft is emphatically stating how great the
upcoming accessibility will be on their developer blog.
I am sending this podcast to all of you with the hopes that you will have
ideas on how we can encourage blind consumers to pressure Microsoft to do
better. It is clear to me that Microsoft is interested in nothing more than
positive publicity for helping everybody out, yet does not want to put in
the effort to give the blind a truly usable screen reader. Louis, narrator
is no better in the consumer preview than it was in the developer version
of
windows released last September. Microsoft claims that over 100000 changes
were made from the first preview of windows to the current beta. And yet
nothing was done for accessibility in that time. If we do not voice our
disappointment as a community, then the final version of windows will
likely
not contain further accessibility improvements.
To Marlaina and everybody else, you need to give this a listen to
understand
what Microsoft claims they are doing versus what they are actually doing.
Scott, I know you were with me when I produced this tonight. However, I
cannot find the link needed to submit this to the blind cool tech web site.
Maybe one of you can get this posted to serotalk? If not, then I hope you
all will share this with every other blind person you know. I normally
don't
get upset when things won't work as advertised. However, Microsoft really
should know better than to produce such a flawed access solution. When
better screen readers can be found in free operating systems such as Linux,
there is a definite problem that needs to be addressed. And when they
market
accessibility, they really should have a product that stands up to the
claim
that it makes windows an inclusive operating system for everybody.
I don't mean to rant, but give this a listen and let me know what you
think.
Thank you,
John
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
