Hi, Karl Extremely well said. I think it's easy to lose sight of the things of which you've reminded us in such a timely and articulate fashion. Unfortunately, being a disabled person just costs more.
Cheers Kylee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Braillenote List'" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 3:40 AM Subject: [Braillenote] A rock and a hard place. > Hello Folks, > > I am writing in response to Jonathan's post and have changed the subject > line to reflect what I feel is really the underlying problem here. First I > won't complain about any functionality Humanware is able to get into the > Braille Note and my personal favorite for top of the list is access to > Pocket Excel as I feel this is the last major tool for business users which > is still missing. > > Having said this I believe that Humanware and, in fact, Freedom Scientific > are working hard to provide the products they feel best serve the blind > population. However in there efforts they find themselves between the > classical rock and hard place. This is because of the nature of the > platform they are working with. > > Under the layer of applications provided in Keysoft is the Pocket PC > environment. This product was developed and is intended for use in pocket > sized devices designed to act as an adjunct to the full PC. The sighted > user of a PDA carries it around to collect contacts, keep appointments and > take notes and then at the end of the day brings the device back to the > office or home, docks it with the PC and gathers the information inside for > further development with full featured programs like Word and Excel. > > This is all well and good when you have paid from $200.00 to $400.00 for the > device. Because of the special needs of the blind Humanware has worked to > develop a product based on the same platform and with as many features as > possible which exist on the general market PDA for the sighted. Because of > this special market's needs the product is necessarily more expensive > costing upwards of $2,000.00 for a version without Braille and up to > $6,200.00 for the largest Braille version. Because of this price structure > blind users understandably feel that it should do quite a bit more than the > similar $200.00 device. After all for the $6,000.00 price one could > purchase one whale of a desktop or laptop computer. > > This feeling puts Humanware in a difficult position because they are > developing software on a platform which is simply not currently designed or > intended to offer the full features of Word or Excel. Where a blind person > might have only the BN to perform all our computing needs thus demanding > more features and abilities, a sighted person would never consider owning > only a PDA without a computer. > > I realize the above doesn't solve the problems some are describing with > compatibility with Word etc. but I am stating it because I feel we need to > try to understand the monumental task Humanware has set for itself and, > although not perfect, the distance they have come in offering a good solid > product which serves many important needs. I hope also that it helps a bit > in understanding the heavy demands we as blind users place on our note > takers/PDAs which the sighted do not. > > Finally I believe that it is imperative that we as blind technology users > carefully consider the equipment we purchase or is purchased for us before > the decision is made. As a technology consultant I take very seriously my > role in assisting my customers in deciding what they want to accomplish and > which equipment will best suit the situation. Because, as all of you know, > once you have started down a path and invested the large amounts of money > necessary it is difficult if not impossible to back up and take another path > so our decisions need to be right the first time. > > Well I guess I have rambled on enough and I hope this may be helpful in some > way. I can only say keep up the good work Jonathan and all the folks at > Humanware. And I don't envy your precarious position but I'm glad someone > has decided to take it on because the blind are much better off because of > it. > > Karl > > > ____________________ > > Karl Smith > Access Technology Specialist > Axis > 4304 South El Camino St. > Taylorsville, Utah 84119 > > Phone: 866-824-7885 > Fax: 866-824-7885 > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > No one will ever go broke underestimating the intelligence of the human > race. > > - H. L. Menkin > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:33 PM > To: Braillenote List > Subject: Re: [Braillenote] A Call for Better Keyword Support and other > things > > Hi Tom, and thanks for your great feedback. In this message, I'm going to > attempt to reply to your points as well as the points made by others in > reply to your original message. > > The issues you raise regarding Word support are issues which concern us > greatly as well. KeySoft 6.11 made some strides to improving the situation. > Prior to KeySoft 6.11, we did not support files created in Word beyond 2000. > Now, we support all versions of Word. that said, there are characteristics > that cause the Word converter to fall over and crash not very gracefully, > irrespective of Word version. These include the use of formatting such as > tables and bullet points. This isn't a satisfactory situation to us either, > and I have in fact authorised funding for a project to research fixes to > this issue. > > One of the issues we face is that we as blind people use our BrailleNotes > quite differently from how many sighted people use their PDAs. A PDA for the > sighted has a small screen, and it's not common for people to do very > complex editing in that environment. For this reason, it may be that the > conversion utilities available to us as part of what comes with Windows CE > need to be replaced with a third party product that will offer much more > advanced Word support. We're actively investigating this now, but at this > stage it's too early to give any kind of indication as to when you might see > the results of this. However, this is one of the nice things about KeySoft. > We can take the bits of Microsoft code that work for us, and replace others > that offer more functionality. We've done this for example in the case of > our Media player which streams more formats than Pocket WindowsMedia Player, > and with our Download Manager. > > I would have to take issue with those who have described the feature set of > KeySoft 7 as fluff. BrailleNote and VoiceNote mPower is now the only > portable product in the market offering you a choice of speech engine. We > have a powerful database manager already being used to assist people with > everything from running their businesses to cataloguing home inventory. > The fraction functions in the calculator are a big feature for students. > While much as been made of the games, keep in mind that a huge number of > BrailleNotes find their way to the education sector. The text adventures > assist with literacy because they encourage kids to use the machine more. > They also assist with orientation, because most of these games use compass > directions, teaching blind children to retrace their steps and assisting > them to develop a sense of spatial awareness. And yes, they're also good > fun. The changes to Bluetooth are particularly huge in the education market > because of the visual display functionality. The FM radio is consistent with > our intent, over time, to have the BrailleNote replace as many of those > other devices you have to carry around with you as a blind person who > travels. > > All that being said, you'll get no argument from me about the substantive > issue you raise, and we are certainly actively working on the issue. > > Jonathan Mosen > BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager > HumanWare > > DDI: +1-925-566-9265 > http://www.humanware.com > > > > "Tom Lange" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 03/02/2006 02:57 p.m. > Please respond to > Braillenote List <[email protected]> > > > To > "Braillenote List" <[email protected]> > cc > > Subject > [Braillenote] A Call for Better Keyword Support and other things > > > > > > > Hi list and Humanware support staff, > > There are times when I have to vent and get something off my chest, and > this > is one of them. > > Today I encountered two problems with a Word document that I downloaded > from > the Project Assist web site in connection with a course that I'm taking. > > First, after downloading the document to my PC and transferring it to a BN > Classic running Keysoft 6.11 build 26, I attempted to open the file in > Keyword, at which time I got the "review options?" prompt. So far, so > good, > but when I pressed Enter on that prompt I was told that the file was not a > recognized Word document. I re-saved the file on the PC as a Word 97 > file, > transferred that one, opened it and it worked fine. As it turns out, I > couldn't open the original file until I did a 1-2-3 reset, then all was > well. However, that led to a second problem. > > The Word file in question contained a number of web addresses which I > needed > to visit in order to complete a class assignment. Though I could see them > quite clearly when viewing the Word file on the PC, they were omitted > entirely from the document when viewing it in Keyweb. I was unaware that > Keyweb wouldn't display embedded hyperlink fields in a Word document, so, > frankly, I was a little surprised, and, a tad bit annoyed. > My Braille Note is on its way back to me, having been upgraded to an > MPower > which should be running Keysoft 7, and I'm really excited about that. > Having > heard about all the neat functionality built into Keysoft 7 and the MPower > platform, I can't wait to take the unit for a spin. > > However, I need to reiterate and expound on something that I've been > saying > for a long, long time. Humanware development managers have been very > responsive to the needs and wants of the customers, and I extend a hearty > thumbs-up for their efforts thus far to enhance the functionality of the > product offering. Many folks, myself included, asked for a faster > hardware > platform and got it, a newer version of Windows CE and got it. Folks > asked > for enhanced media player support, streaming audio, database > functionality, > and the list goes on, and all of that is here now, and that's great! > > But what about the long-standing issues that still need to be addressed? > Humanware needs to recognize and remember that there's a significant > percentage of folks within the user population who, like myself, use the > Braille Note for education and business as well as pleasure on a > day-to-day > basis, so special consideration must be given to ensuring that those > applications that can be used for education and business have the best > possible support that the platform will offer. This means that Keyword, > for > example, needs to be able to handle any Word document version that's > thrown > at it, and that in the interest of being fully and seamlessly integrated > into education and business-related activity, it needs to, among other > things, be able to handle fancier formatting such as tables without > crashing and handle markup such as embedded hyperlinks without omitting > the > associated information. It also means that those memory glitches which > cause critical documents to mysteriously disappear into the bit bucket > need > to be isolated and dealt with in no uncertain terms. Yeah, I ran across > that one a couple of weeks ago and let me tell ya, folks, re-creating my > data wasn't much fun. > > These issues still haven't been fully addressed in years, and it's become > apparent that those of us who are concerned about them just haven't "made > enough noise" by submitting formal requests to Humanware development or > the > support team. So I urge those who feel as I do, stand up and be counted. > Voice your concerns on the list yet again, and write to Humanware support > directly as I'm doing at this very moment, so that Humanware development > managers can see the numbers and know that we're out here clamoring for > resolution of these issues. > > Okay, time to get off my soapbox. No flames, please. See y'all later. > > Tom > > > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > > __________ NOD32 1.1395 (20060206) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > http://www.eset.com > > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.2/252 - Release Date: 6/02/2006 > > ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
