jaws 16 beta: death of screen reader innovation illustrated
The latest jaws 16 beta has just been released: http://www2.freedomscientific.com/downl … c-beta.asp
I've been seeing this trend for a while now, but I think that this version just perfectly illustrates the death of screen reader innovation.
1. JAWS Command Search, a Built in Search Engine for JAWS Keystrokes. This actually sounds potentially useful.
2. Standard Licenses Become "Home Use Edition for Non-Commercial Use": good as well.
3. Semi-Auto Forms Mode: pretty minor feature, nothing much to comment on here.
4. Enhanced Convenient OCR for PDF Documents: this is pretty silly imo, because any specialized OCR tool like fine reader will definitely do a much better job.
5. Improved JAWS Performance with Microsoft Word 2013 using UIA: good for those using word 2013, but I haven't found a compelling reason to upgrade
6. Enhanced Language Support in Voice Profiles: i'm surprised that this feature only appeared now, as it seems like an obvious improvement in hindsight
7. Windows 8.1 Reading List and people app support: how many people will willingly use metro apps if there are normal desktop substitutes that are comparable or better in functionality?
8. New Research It Lookup Source for Tracking USPS Packages: time is probably better spent implementing other features/bug fixes more appropriate for a screen reader
9. New Focus Braille Display Command for Panning: no comment. haven't used jaws with a braille display before.
10. Updated Third-Party Braille Drivers: if i'm not mistaken, this just means that more braille display vendors paid freedomscientific to get their drivers certified/compatible. This seems pretty ridiculous. What is the range of compatiblility of NVDA with braille displays?
11. More Voices Option Added to the JAWS Help Menu. Including Vocalizer Expressive High Premium voices on the DVD: I guess this makes it easier for people to use vocalizer expressive; out of interest, how many of you use that feature?
12. Improved JAWS Recovery: took them forever to add this; wasn't this in NVDA for forever?
Thoughts? I was hoping for more noteworthy changes, being a long-time jaws user, but i'm pretty disappointed overall with this release.
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