I agree completely. GWM betas their notetaker firmware and
Window-Eyes, FS betas JAWS, Microsoft betas Windows, and
innumerable software vendors for small programs release betas all
the time. Why should keysoft, as you said, be any different? As
I said, another company beating hw to a feature is not going to
make me switch notetakers. The problem comes when hw ignores the
feature completely, such as the im client that we should be
getting with ks8, even though it will not support popular
messengers like MSN or Yahoo (go figure that brilliant move). We
get it some years after the Braille Sense and Pac Mate, then bsp
and omni, have it. I am not complaining that we have it, I am
using its delay to make my point.
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Lee" <[email protected]
To: "'Alex Hall'" <[email protected]>,"'Maurice Sloane'"
<[email protected]>,<[email protected]
Date sent: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:04:54 -0700
Subject: RE: [Braillenote] Keysoft 8 Thread: Dominic Gagliano
Hi Alex,
Here's my view: I believe there should be a public beta program
or some sort
to allow us to give timely feedback before the final thing is
released.
There are mainstream and blindness examples, so why not with HW?
Just my thoughts.
Cheers,
Joseph P.S. I haven't forgotten about the chat - just adjusting
it to fit
with today's announcement about final phase of KeySoft. And,
thanks Dave for
your posts - we learned much from you. Hope to see you later.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alex
Hall
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 8:51 PM
To: Maurice Sloane; [email protected]
Subject: re: [Braillenote] Keysoft 8 Thread: Dominic Gagliano
I agree 110 percent with Peggy's message! Like her, I mainly get
annoyed with HW when there is an apparent blackout of messages,
unless it is a message promising yet another release date that is
then missed. A message every month or two, both regarding ks8
and as we move beyond it, would be great. Just something like
"We are in final beta and have not found anything major, should
be a couple months, but no promises"
or
"We are closing feature requests for the next keysoft release and
beginning the coding stage; still send us your feature requests
and bug reports, though."
or
"Coding is going well and we expect alpha testing to end any week
now. As always, no timelines will be given, but we expect to
start with beta testing in no more than ten weeks".
You get the idea. I hate to bring up competition, but GWM has
three or four of its staff actively posting on its notetaker
support list (its equivalent to this bn list) and, as new
software comes available, it beta tests that new update with
anyone that wants to risk trying it. In this way, the random
sequence of events that causes a crash is much more likely to be
found since the testing pool is much larger than a select group.
For example, I was using Spanish computer braille for a long
time, and so was the only one to find a bug in Sendero GPS since
I was using such a strange Braille code. Had that software been
a public beta, that bug would not have made it into the final
release. I know hw always says that it never releases features
until just before the update so that competition cannot jump on
the ideas and get a head start, but this logic does not really
make sense. If you like your unit, then you will continue to use
it instead of spending thousands of dollars just to switch to
another unit that beat yours to the punch and got an instant
messenger first. I have my bn, and I am mostly satisfied with
it. I will not switch to a Pac Mate because FS sees that hw is
going to include, say, an rss reader and so fs puts one in the PM
first. I hope this makes sense.
Again, thank you for the update, and please keep them coming!!
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: "Maurice Sloane" <[email protected]
To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]
Date sent: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:14:55 -0400
Subject: [Braillenote] Keysoft 8 Thread: Dominic Gagliano
I'm forwarding the following message from Peggy which is in reply
to
Dominic's earlier post concerning KeySoft 8.
If others wish to comment on this thread please use my message
when
replying and NOT Dominic's original message. The reason for this
is
that the total size of Dominic's original message is close to
exceeding
the limit accepted by the list mailing system. This was caused
by the
fact that Dominic included the list digest as part of his
message.
If you reply to Dominic's original message the messages will be
discarded by the mail list.
Thanks
Maurice Sloane
HumanWare
Thanks for the update, Dominic. I think the frustration, for me
at
least,
is not so much the delay, but the total silence on HumanWare's
part.
I'd
rather hear more frequent "we're still testing and fine tuning"
updates
than
dead silence. It seems like HumanWare only responds when 456
people
start
grumbling and saying we're frustrated, and then we get a message
like
yours.
I would rather have a message like yours posted on its own, and
not as a
response to a bunch of people feeling frustrated. Just
expressing my
feelings and giving feedback, and in no way meaning this as an
attack.
Peggy <who loves her BrailleNote, but is very disappointed at the
total
silence of Humanware about anything BrailleNote-related
http://kernsac.livejournal.com
http://facebook.com/kernsac
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dominic Gagliano" <[email protected]
To: <[email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 9:33 AM
Subject: [Braillenote] KeySoft 8 update
I read that everyone is anxious to know the status and also read
a lot
of frustrations. KeySoft 8 is in its final beta testing and
being
prepared for release very, soon. There is a risk in providing an
exact
release date if the software is not completely tested and our
only
position is to meet due dates which has happened in the past. We
now
insist that we follow thru on the complete testing process and
release
once R&D have given approval.
There is a good deal of speculation on features for KeySoft 8.
These
have already been established and posted on this list as well as
our
website. This upgrade will not include an upgrade to Windows CE.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/about_us/press_releases/2009_pres
s_relea
ses/unveiling_keysoft_8
SMA's provide for two future upgrades without any specific time
frame.
If you prefer to not invest in future upgrades, then you can
purchase
single upgrades at additional cost. SMA purchases help fund the
cost for
engineering to produce software upgrades.
I thank those on the list that have been patient and have
attempted to
explain to those others that in the end we all want a stable
reliable
release.
Dominic Gagliano
Vice President of Blindness Sales
HumanWare, Inc
800-722-3393 Ext 258
Direct: 312-432-1147
FAX: 312-226-6127
[email protected]
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