OK, for some of you this upgrade is great. For me, what I am hearing is play lists which I don't think will ever be a feature I have much interest in since I don't use the Braille note for multimedia often as the speaker isn't built for that.
Foreign language support, great for a lot of you, but I don't have any skill at foreign languages. SSL is the only thing I see that I actually consider something I might use. Thing is, we have been asking for more current Microsoft Word Support since at least 2002 if not before. This summer I was faced with a new computer program that was not at all Jaws Friendly that I am forced to use at work. Although the program can and does write its reports (medical reports) in HTML/XML format, I was sent five Word documents with all the keystrokes and other instructions I was being provided for use of said program and not one of them would open in its native format on the Braille Note and I tried various options so that I could view these files on the Braille note from trying to send them as Word 97 documents to RTF and they would not open. I had to convert all five documents to text and this rendered them nearly but not quite useless to me, symbols were translated to full words but, even more frustrating was the fact that all the lines were run together and adding returns to separate them and hopefully turn them into paragraphs did not make any of these documents nagivitable by the usual commands to move from item to item in a list. I have managed to learn and use the said program with these documents after spending a full weekend trying to figure out how to get them into a useable form on the BN and in reality, I suppose the best thing I could have done was to copy type each line from the computer into the Braille Note to have gotten the results I would have liked to have but, the sad truth is, I did not do that due to time constraints, family illness and the fact that I needed some form of these files immediately. Another issue, one we have talked about in the one chat I attended is the fact that hooking up the Braille Note for a display on a computer, especially with Jaws (which is what many of us use in the work setting) is next to impossible and I am not computer illiterate. I finally bought a Focus Braille display despite having two Braille notes (one at home and one at work) because it is so easily connected to a computer, plug it in, and you are ready to go. I have never been able to get bluetooth to work, my computer, especially at work does not have a serial port and I am restricted from putting software to support a USB-to-serial adapter on that computer. Despite all this, despite my feelings of frustration with the above issues, I still use my Braille note daily, I manage to find or live with workaround solutions I'd rather not use or solutions that are half solutions to major problems in the work world because I still think it is the best thing going out there, and because even if I wanted to switch, I have a lot of time and money invested in the product. Once these bugs are squashed, and more importantly once I can be assured that my addresses and calendar entries can be copied from computer to Braille Note or from Braille Note to computer, I will get this upgrade, but, I sure wish some of the issues I and others have been asking for on this list since the days when Larry Lewis was at HW which tells you how long it has been were addressed. I distinctly remember addressing some of these issues when Larry was there, so it was, as I recall the fall of 2002 when the Word issues first came up. The only thing I think we got from those discussions was the ability to sync calendar and address with Outlook a great and badly needed feature but since then Microsoft products have been at the bottom of the list as far as new features are concerned. I live and work in the Real World, I need Real World solutions. I don't need FM radios that work intermittently, I don't need games I lose patience with if I ever have time to play them at all. OK, sorry for the rant, but I have been frustrated by having to practically rewrite everything I am sent from my employer in order to have it under my fingers in a somewhat timely fashion. Rose Combs [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of vicky collins Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 8:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Braillenote] general comments/was List of current bugs foundunder KeySoft 7.5.17 Hi All, Well, I'm still on vacation, and thus haven't had the chance to upgrade yet. However, I thought I would make a few comments regarding Rose's post, anyway. First, seeing as we do appear to have this major translation problem with KS 7.5, although Brian's assurances from the HW staff have been appreciated, I can't help but be a bit surprised that a representative from HW hasn't yet offered these same assurances to the list. Oh, sure, I know a patch to fix these bugs may very well take some time, but it shouldn't take but just a moment or two for an HW staff member to acknowledge and try to alleviate the concerns of the users of the BN products regarding this issue, even if it is a weekend. Second, sure, with just looking at things from a distance, so to speak, one might very well think that the beta team should have caught these bugs. However, in defense of that beta team, what with checking all kinds of issues and trying to confirm that as many as possible known bugs have been fixed, sometimes things like this do just get missed. Then, too, in this case, there were several new things HW were trying to implement with this release, and they were also trying to meet that SSL email encryption date of September first. Third, speaking of that September first date, I was thinking that A T and T, SBCGlobal in my case, gave this September date to start requiring the SSL encryption; however, I'm still able to send and receive email just fine with my BN and KS 7.2. But, grin, who knows what will happen Tuesday when folks go back to work in the US. >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Rose Combs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "'Richard Ring'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'Kevin Chao'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'Alex Parks'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'Joseph Lee'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[email protected]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date sent: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 18:47:34 -0700 >Subject: RE: [Braillenote] List of current bugs found under KeySoft 7.5.17 >This is the first upgrade I have not gotten within a day of it being >announced. My big reason was that I use Keysync to sync my address book and >planner, and this once saved me a lot of trouble because I had a major >computer crash and was able to restore my planner/calendar and addresses >from the Braille note. >However, after hearing the translation stories today, I am almost glad I >can't just rush up and get the update. I want what I am sending out to be >exactly what I intended it to be. >I am very disappointed in the HW tactics this time too, Based in NZ it might >be but they had to know August 31 was the start of a long weekend in the >states and that they would be leaving thousands of customers without support >over the weekend. If the update process works like usual, I have not even >read the directions yet, then for many of us it will go well but some will >have problems. >Personally I'd rather have waited days, weeks or even months for an upgrade >that worked rather than have one that would make people look like >illiterates while sending e-mail message to this list or to anywhere. >I am disappointed with what I am hearing from a company that I have >staunchly defended over the years, because for me at least the Braille Note >was and is one of the most useful pieces of technology I have bought in the >past 7 years that I use daily, at work, at home, while waiting for a ride, >in the doctor's office, even to read myself to a state of relaxation at >night in my bed. I use my PC daily too, but, the Braille Note is almost a >part of me, seldom do you find me without it. It has even gone to the >grocery store with me to provide me with the list I have made up or to take >notes on items I'd like further nutritional info about. >I have never been a beta tester, but know that I'd do my best to put any >device or program through as many paces as I could even if that meant doing >things I don't normally do on a daily basis. >So, in short, I am not downloading the upgrade this weekend, and am >disappointed to hear about these translation problems people are having >because when I do use the Braille Note for e-mail I want to know I am >sending exactly what I intended to send. >I do hope these issues are resolved quickly. >Rose Combs >[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. 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 ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. 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
