Hi Vicky and List:
I am glad to see this message, as I have been keeping my thoughts to
myself, because I say too much, anyway.
I read the commentary on the Chat from last week. What I saw was that
most questions were not answered. I'm not sure if it's because it was too
soon to give one, or what the situation was. In my way of thinking, "no
response" is a response. I still have a copy of the Chat that was
summarized, if there should be questions about my comments. I am of the
mind that Braille displays will be used, but not necessarily on a
BrailleNote. I've started thinking, and I can't believe this would ever
come from me, that a PC is good, and use your BrailleNote to read things
you need.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vicky Collins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Richard Ring" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"slery"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Alex Parks"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:17:34 -0400
Subject: Re: [Braillenote] My general comments
Hi Richard and All,
This message from you is quite a surprise, at least for me,
anyway, as I
thought you were a staunch supporter of the PAC Mate. Oh, sure,
I know you
are familiar with the BrailleNote, but had no idea you were
thinking of
making the switch. As for myself, grin, although my tendencies
certainly
lean toward my PK, I'm happily not claiming any extreme loyalty
to one
specific product.
I do have a Pocket PC device, and have even used it a few times
with my PK
and mPower to have a Braille display for the PPC device.
However, I just
haven't gotten the hang of, or even wanted to,
use it that way on a regular basis.
Now, if I'm wanting to be extremely portable, I do enjoy having
all my info
on my Pocket PC device, and then being able to have that put
safely away,
and out of the way, in my purse. But, should I want to do any
really
serious work, such as writing and reading email or reading and
editing word
processing documents, then I want my note taker with its more
comfortable
keyboard and readily available Braille display. I don't want to
have to
deal with pairing/activating a device via Bluetooth, and then
just hope that
Bluetooth connection maintains itself for the entire time I want
to use the
Braille.
As for HumanWare possibly shifting their focus to portable
Braille displays
and mainstream PDA devices, and kind of away from the BN; I'm
wondering if
they have actually made a decision as to how far they want to go
in this
regard? I mean, if one listened to that BN chat last week,
Maurice seemed
to be indicating that they were still looking at all options. Of
course, I
wouldn't expect HW to say what they are actually planning, as
they wouldn't
want to tip off the competition. But, maybe they are trying to
gauge what
their consumers want, and thus see if they would be successful in
their
attempt to go more with the Bluetooth and portable Braille
display solution.
Vicky Collins
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Ring" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "slery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Alex
Parks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: <[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 12:48 PM
Subject: [Braillenote] My general comments
I have used the competition's product for three years. I have
finally
concluded that it is too unstable and too risky to use as a note
taking
device. I don't know all of the reasons for this although I
suspect
some things, but in reality, when you need a device you can rely
on,
the Braillenote still wins. I would like to be able to install
other
software programs on a Braillenote, and I would like to be able
to read
html email without having to do anything special. I would also
like to
see improved Microsoft Word support, but when reality imposes
itself on
life, one thing is clear. The Braillenote from HumanWare and The
Braille Sense which is sold by GW-Micro are both far more stable
than
the competition. And so that we leave no ambiguity here, the
competition is the Pac Mate from Freedom Scientific.
There was a seminar given at the NFB convention that I attended.
This
seminar featured a discussion of the new upgrade that the
competition
will be making. When it came time for questions and answers, I
asked a
certain gentleman (Mr. Mosen) if this new upgrade would address
the
instability issues that I have noticed in their product. I
explained
that four people, myself and three other co-workers have for all
intent
given up on their product because of its inherent unreliability
and
instability. Mr. Mosen simply said that others weren't noticing
issues
like these.
Although I am getting a strong feeling that HumanWare is moving
towards
PDA's and Blue Tooth Braille displays along with third party
(Code
Factory) software for screen readers rather than their flagship
product,
the Braillenote, I believe this would be somewhat unfortunate.
How many
sighted people read books on their PDA's? Those of you who have
some
vision, or for anyone who has held a PDA in their hand, the
screens are
extremely tiny. How many sighted people would need to listen to
Daisy
books on their PDA's? How many sighted people would take
extensive
notes in meetings or lectures using the little stylus that comes
with a
PDA?
Blind people want and expect things that are simply not offered
by
mainstream PDA's. However, there is a price. The market is too
small,
and therefore our products cost way too much!
I'll go crawl under my stone now, but I truly hope that HumanWare
does
not abandon the Braillenot in favor of mainstream solutions which
will
simply not meet the needs of all of their customers.
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