I agree. The only way Humanware can save the bn family is to do three things:
1. Stop charging $200 per upgrade. I could almost buy an entire iPod for one upgrade, and an iPad for three. When an entire OS (Microsoft Windows) does not cost that much, and when Mac upgrades are $30, I fail to see how a $200 upgrade can be justified? The newer upgrades don't even offer significant features that users have been asking for, and the free upgrade for the apex that was supposed to deliver Word 2007 compatibility failed to do so. Yes, I am glad to be able to open documents with complex formatting, but this upgrade was supposed to support Word 2007 and it does not. I just hope that said support does not arrive in the next paid upgrade, since Humanware stated that 2007 support would be free. 2. Offer a FREE SDK. HIMS offers their sdk for the Sense line for free, meaning that anyone who writes a program for the Sense does not have to charge much, if anything, for it to recover the initial cost of the sdk. HIMS also has a history of offering free upgrades, so I am afraid that if Humanware ever does offer an sdk, it will not be free and could, in fact, cost a great deal of money. 3. Stop charging so much for add-ons, and offer more of them. Who is going to pay $200 for a dictionary? No one, unless you are on a bn, apparently. $200 seems like $190 too much, in my opinion. What about other programs, like an expansion to Keyplus or a more robust chat program, or even a twitter client? Many users will not use these, so offering them as cheap installers could be the way to go. On 7/27/11, Sabahattin Gucukoglu <[email protected]> wrote: > It's all very well harping on about how great braille notetakers are because > they do braille, and I agree emphatically, but what about the very real > problem that they are crippled by their software suites? > > Honestly, HumanWare are going down the same path as Freedom Scientific, only > they're doing it with reasonably decent hardware. > > BTW, the Apex is with me here in my laptop case, but the laptop (MacBook Air > 11 inch) is getting all the use. Even Frotz works well enough that I can > avoid the Games application on the BN. The only thing the BN is good for > now is the dictionary and text editor. It has, as I predicted, no media > files to play and no Internet connection, but I've loaded up an SD card with > documents and games, so maybe when I'm travelling a bit lighter. > > Cheers, > Sabahattin > > ___ > 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 > > -- Have a great day, Alex (msg sent from GMail website) [email protected]; http://www.facebook.com/mehgcap ___ 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
