Hi John. It's a very important point you raise, and I would like to deal with it at some length because I fear you've misinterpreted what I've been saying.
Before the BrailleNote entered the market, the only real choice blind people had in terms of very portable devices was based on proprietary 1980s technology. The BrailleNote's mission was to deliver a device based on a modern operating system, not as you suggest to keep the blind and the sighted separate, but to bring the blind and the sighted together. For example, no longer was it necessary to copy a text file off an old note taker to your PC, apply fonts in Word and then e-mail it off. The BrailleNote allowed you to send e-mail attachments that were received by a sighted recipient as Microsoft Word files, and for sighted people to e-mail files back in that format and have them read by the BrailleNote. So a blind person could put documents together in an extremely intuitive way, and the sighted recipient only sees a Word document. It's a win win situation. In making the comments I have made, in no way am I suggesting there isn't a place for screen readers on a desktop PC. Screen readers have allowed people like you and me to do jobs using the tools that sighted people in regular offices are using, and allow us to compete with equality. However, we are blind and there's no getting away from it. What I care about is being as productive and efficient as I can possibly be in every aspect of my life, both professional and personal. On a portable device, whether one is using the same tools as a sighted person is much less important, since the device, by definition, is a personal one. Generally, you are the only user of your PDA. So although I am a power user of Windows, I choose to use a product that allows me to interact with my information in a way that is most efficient for me. What matters is not the means, but the ends. How quickly can I get at the information I need? Why should I have to worry about graphical concepts designed for the sighted when I am a blind person using a personal device? When you're on the road, your employer cares about you being in touch and doing your job efficiently. It is the outcomes, the deliverables, not the way you achieve them, that they care about. So we took the time to put together an interface designed so that blind people can work efficiently in a sighted world. Sometimes, the tools and techniques we use will be different, and there is no harm or shame in that. For example, despite my knowledge of Windows, I use Kurzweil 1000 as my OCR package because my needs as a blind OCR user are quite different from the needs of sighted OCR users. So my criteria when choosing technology is not whether my neighbour uses it, but whether it will best help me achieve my goals with the greatest efficiency. This is not in any way to detract from the issues surrounding making sure we offer up-to-date connectivity options, we must and we will. But the reason why the BrailleNote is by far the market leader is because we know who are customers are and we design a product specifically for them. That fundamental philosophy has been in place since BrailleNote's creation. And for thousands of people using the BrailleNote for employment, education and leisure, it has worked well and we intend to keep improving on it. All the best. Jonathan Mosen BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager Pulse Data International Ltd DDI: +64-3-373-6192 Fax: +64-3-384 4933 Mobile: +64-21 466 736 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: www.pulsedata.com
