Hi Mark,
I see.
Essentially my point was not to sacrifice current developments
just because we have excellent braille support (the Apex is
leader at this). In other words, I believe it is time that we do
something about "jumping over the pond" - investigating the
potentials of current development while keeping the blindness
communication channel (braille) intact. I do know the importance
of braille, and I do understand that the designers should
consider braille support in their design. But I don't really
want to see people protest new feature sets just because there's
no braille support (we can add it later), nor say BrailleNote is
better without looking at other options availible. To summarize:
I think it is better for citizens to be informed of what's going
on rather than surrounded by bad assumptions (and I do apologize
if my post sounded that way), and in order for a product to be
more successful, the company should do something about allowing
users themselves to contribute with more than words - to actually
froduce something erthe benefit of other users without
sacrificing the means of talking to other users electronically
(or, in some cases, hard copy).
I expect this thread to continue for a while, with heated words
on current market trends. I guess I have no other words to say
apart from: let's hear what othehs have to say regarding this
development.
Cheers,
Joseph
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Higgins" <[email protected]
To: <[email protected]
Date sent: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:01:23 -0000
Subject: [Braillenote] Re Joseph's Summary
Joseph,
A very interesting technical/non-technical summary there. I
think you
should have made explicit the value that some of us place on the
quality of
the Braille translation. There is a danger of the quite valid
complaints
about Humanware's not doing this, that or the other's drowning
out this huge
plus point for those who are of but simple tastes. As for your
view on the
blindness PDA market, there is certainly a debate to be had here.
I can
only contribute my own experience to this: in courtroom-based
advocacy I,
for my part, find the all-in-one computer/braille display
indispensable. a
laptop and bluetooth display is a poor substitute (not mobile
enough), a PDA
and 18-cell display or even less is not enough Braille, even if
one leaves
aside the prohibition on use of PDAs and mobile phones in most
courts.
Until there is a really credible substitute for the all-in-one
solution the
Apex provides, I will always have a need for it and I can't
imagine I'm the
only one in this position even if I'm the only one who writes
about it.
It's the same issue that you get in opinion polling - some folks
are less
motivated to write into discussion fora such as this than others.
I am with
you all up to a point on the frustration with Humanware's not
making the
most of what they have, but let's not lose sight of not just the
positives,
but the mundane, boring positives.
Mark
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