My BVI teacher also knows Kevin Hughes. I probably shouldn't say
this, but our we got our 7.5 upgrades through him, and they
didn't cost as much. I have other reasons to believe HumanWare
is good as far as timing, the tech support is good, and such
things, but the prices are still ridiculous, and the products
still incredibly limited.
Iyana
----- Original Message -----
From: Joseph Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: BrailleNote List <[email protected]
Date sent: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:17:50 -0700
Subject: [Braillenote] My own comments again
Hi folks,
I guess you can treat my post as a continuing
episode of "my own comments" series -
apologies for anyone here on this list for
this. But since we are discussing a subject
that is somewhat sensitive, I decided I would
respond on this list.
First, some stats for you: for the last eight
and a half hours, we had twenty messages
(starting with the original message from
Iyana) about numerous comments directed at
HumanWare. There were a total of three
issues discussed here: product comparison,
whether HumanWare has met our (customfers')
needs and whether there would be any future
for BrailleNote.
And here are my opinions and responses:
* Statistically, this list had posts on
product comparison around this time (usually
around CSUN weekend and other conference
periods), where there are bound to be new
product announcements. Here's my opinion:
occasional product comparisons are fine to
let everybody know what's going on, but
excessive posts about it (especially posts
regarding PAC Mate) is not beneficial - it
will mean more confusion for new users, some
unnecessary debates and so forth. From past
experience, we know that this "product
comparison" was mainly focused between
BrailleNote and PAC Mate (recently, it has
shifted to include Braille Sense), with
people asking questions such as advantages of
both products and whether the BrailleNote is
ready for stiff competition. I also feel
that the information presented in some posts
about BrailleNote and other products are
somewhat misleading - somewhat exaggerated
specifications or missing features (well, I
admit that I've done this numerous times),
which means more confusion to users,
partiularly newbies. I feel that we should
present information about BrailleNote (and
other devices) as accurately as possible in
order to: a. To update existing users on
other devices on the market, and b. To allow
new users to assess where BrailleNote
currently stands. But having too much of
this "comparison notes" would spark harsh
posts and may lead to negative assessment of
any device - after all, the whole blindness
assistive technology market is monopolistic
competition. Because of these reasons, I
feel that it is fine if we have occasional
comparative messages, but in order to not
confuse people, I feel that it should be
under control.
* Response of HumanWare dealers: I personally
had good relationship with HumanWare staff
for the past few years. I received my
equipment on time (when I had to send it in)
and HumanWare help me with my own problems
with my BrailleNote and answered my queries.
I still have personal correspondenjs with key
people from HumanWare, including Dominic,
Kevin Hughes and other folks. My general
note is this: many people have different
experiences with the company and may have
different viewpoints. Some people might have
positive experiences while some people might
have negative words about HumanWare, although
it is subject to one's own bias. I think
that if we understand our views, we can
create a solution where we can present our
views on HumanWare and send it as an email to
key persons involved with the BrailleNote
(sort of like collective bargaining).
* BrailleNote and its future: I'm also a
senior in high school and I have to return my
own mPower to the school district when I
graduate. My plan is to get another
BrailleNote mPower (around June). Why?
Because I can see "unseen future" with the
device, such as possibility of operating
system upgrade, amother hardware revision and
so forth. And here's my ultimate opinion: we
have our current BrailleNote mPower because
we asked for it long ago. And what we are
suggesting now might be introduced in the
future - whether in the new hardware
revision, a new operating system, but I don't
know. We don't know the precise future of
our device is - simply saying, "BrailleNote
would be in trash in certain number of years"
does not really guarantee that there would be
drops in market share of HumanWare. Just
ranting about cvrrent faults does not mean
that we may have a perfect device in the
future - where there's no bugs, there would
be feature sets for everyone, etc.
Here's the ultimate saying that I learned
through my short 18 years of life: past
creates present, and our present acts
foreshadows our future. In other words, what
we have is a result of what we asked for in
the past - namely the ability to use USB
devices on the BrailleNote, WiFi support,
etc. Plus, what we act now may be an
indicator of the future of BrailleNote - it
might have internal WiFi card, a new Windows
CE, more RAM, etc. My ultimate response to
recent posts is this: don't lose hope. Even
though we had a glorious past, even though we
are going through a dark tunnel called
"present," we may find ourselves in the midst
of a huge stadium called "future" with
everyone staring at us with awe, asking
questions about how we managed this "dark
past" - current times - and our endurance.
We may had a peak in usage of BrailleNote in
the past (that's the highest point on the
business cycle curve), we might be going
through a "recession" or bottom loop (the
bottom most point on the curve) but we, the
usters of HumanWare's BrailleNote might
embrace another peak in the future - and
that's the part of an economy's business
cycle.
That's all I have to say. I hope this post
may have shed some enlightenment. If you
have anything to say, please write to me
offlist (I don't want to flood the list
traffic with useless posts).
Hope I didn't offend anyone here.
Cheers,
Joseph
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