Hi List,
I am doing this just once because I have seen how some members of this list
can react irrationally whenever the BrailleNote is being compared to the
PACMate. Since these people do not like product comparisons on a support list,
then let me post these observations and corrections in support of a better
understanding of what the BrailleNote lacks, what users are too blind to see,
and to correct the computer ignorance and PM misinformation that has been going
around, at least on this list.
First of all, as a couple of listers have posted, the HumanWare person's
idea of multi-tasking is incorrect. What we have now on the BrailleNote is
task-switching which is different from multi-tasking that the PACMate supports
and any computer-literate person will understandably request. Can we write
email or a document while checking new mail? No, because the BN does not
multi-task. Can we listen to an MP3 tutorial and take down notes in a document
at the same time? No, because the BN does not multi-task. This should also
answer the comment that being able to listen to an MP3--music--while doing
something else is not important. Remember that people use the MP3 player not
just for music but also for listening to books or tutorials. Can we have more
than one file open in KeyWord? No, because the BN does not multi-task and must
exit and save the file you have left to open another. As mentioned, the PM can
multi-task and so if these questions were asked about the PACM
ate, the answers will all be yes.
Someone said, in a moment of confusion, I hope, and not of ignorance, that
you do not have more than one window open at the same time on a computer. This
is incorrect. When you have a file open in Windows, and you press CONTROL with
o to open another, the window for the first file is not closed but minimized.
The focus will be on the window of the second file. When you exit the second
file with ALT with F4, the focus is returned to the window of the first file
unless you have other windows open but minimized. If we do this in KeyWord,
exiting the second file will return you to the KeyWord Menu, not the last file
you have been to, which proves that you cannot have more than one file open.
Next thing I would like to correct is that people seem to be defending the
BrailleNote against the PACMate by saying that it is not a laptop. I am not
arguing that the BrailleNote is a laptop because it is not marketed as a laptop
but as a notetaker/PDA. But neither has the PACMate been marketed as a laptop,
and I don't know where some listers here got the idea that it was. I hope this
is not one of PDI's vague attempt to create wrong impressions about the
competition just to keep their customers.
If you subscribe to the PM list--by sending a blank email to [EMAIL
PROTECTED] will read some posts that remind new users to keep their
expectations reasonable because the PACMate is a PDA, not a laptop. So only
these few BrailleNote users seem to be misinformed about the PM, and not the PM
users themselves, and I doubt if FS will purposefully tell BrailleNote users
that the PM is a laptop and then once they buy it, will inform them it's a PDA.
Please, do your research before making claims and forming a flimsy defense of
the BrailleNote.
Now those on the PM list who are reminded that the PACMate is not a laptop
are those who expect something that requires a laptop's memory size or speed.
I want to comment on this now. If some of these folks complain about the
memory on the PM, which has about 96 MB or more compared to the BrailleNote's
48 or 16 MB, and its speed where the PM uses a 400 MHZ X-scale processor
compared to the three times slower 133 MHZ processor used by the BrailleNote,
then what will they say about the BN? But that's not the important point I want
to make. The more important question is why has PDI not done anything about
this, despite the posts here about sluggishness and limited memory and their
related problems? What is PDI waiting for? The chance to steal Freedom
Scientific's customers who want more speed and memory and don't really care
about the graphical user interface?
Speaking of GUI, I find it ridiculous that PDI continues to use this
philosophy as the selling point--or more appropriately, the remaining saving
grace--of the BrailleNote. I have been subscribed to the PACMate list for some
months now and I have not seen any significant number of posts complaining
about the graphical user interface like radio buttons and such. The longest
debate on the PM list, I think, has been with the carrying case. Believe me,
if my problems and concerns about the BrailleNote are as puny as the wish for a
better carrying case--and some PACMate users bought a messenger bag that suits
them well--then I'm sure this list will be quieter and will not find repeats of
the same questions and problems over and over again.
Anyway, I think that GUI is something that should not be shunned but dealt
with, and the BrailleNote has done a bit of that with KeyWeb. Web pages will
inevitably have radio buttons and check boxes, but was KeyWeb designed to
ignore them? No, we have display indicators for them and the only difference
with speech is that when the cursor is moved to a radio button or check box,
the name of the page element is not announced but just its
state--check/unchecked, pressed/unpressed. Frankly, even if speech calls them
properly as radio buttons and check boxes, I doubt if users here will find them
any more confusing than the display indicators.
I have seen about 7 former BrailleNote users who are actively posting now
to the PM list because they switched to the PACMate and say they do not regret
their decision. These are the skilled BN users I used to see on this list.
There are more who have been asking questions because they have been thinking
of switching to the PACMate. On the other hand, I have not seen anyone who
used a PACMate--not only tried it and found it too sophisticated for his IQ,
but really experienced using it like an average user--who had posted to this
list saying he wants to switch to the BrailleNote. If ever there had been a
couple of people who said they've played with a PACMate for a short while when
they were deciding on which product to buy, they said they settled for the
BrailleNote because it's less complicated. But I notice that the same people
had questions about the basic functions of the BrailleNote that they could have
understood from the manual.
This leads me to think, maybe the BrailleNote was the right choice for them
not because of what the BN offers but because of how much--or little--they can
grasp. That does not improve the image of the BrailleNote. It implies that
this technology will soon be for people with simple computer needs, with very
little or no computer skills prior to owning the BrailleNote, or for those who
are intimidated by graphical user interface because someone who is good with
computers said they will find it difficult to learn.
Notice also that the suggestions made recently for future upgrades--MSN
messenger, audio-streaming, file operations executed while on a file list like
the directory option in the BrailleNote's File Manager--are already available
on the PACMate. All that on a PDA for the blind, not a laptop, so what's wrong
with expecting to have these on the BrailleNote? One more thing I cannot help
noticing is that FS comes out with upgrades--both software and hardware--more
frequently than PDI does during the same period of time. Is it because FS has
a bigger team working on the PM? Or is it because scripting JAWS to work with
PPC applications--which some PM users do and share the scripts for free--aside
from the Microsoft SDK that is also available to them--makes it a lot easier to
upgrade the product than fiddling with KeySoft which, contrary to what someone
posted, does not work as well as PPC with Windows CE? In order to work well
with something, the important word to consider is
"with". KeySoft works on Windows CE, but because the user is limited to
KeySoft, then it is not so accurate to claim that it works well with Windows CE.
Why did I write at the start of this message that I'm posting it "in
support" of a better understanding about the BrailleNote, and not merely to
compare the BrailleNote with the PACMate? In my opinion, PDI should not allow
BrailleNote users like those I have seen posting to think that the BrailleNote
does not have a lot of catching up to do, and at the same time, the users
should not let PDI think that we agree with what they're saying and give them
an excuse for not upgrading the BN fast enough to catch up with the PACMate.
Imagine that, version 5.1 gave us a new planner, but not an improved email
system and web browser which have more problems with greater urgency. I can
use a Perkins Brailler and an alarm clock for my appointments, and endure the
inconvenience of using primitive technology, but what happens to the
BrailleNote user who does not have his own computer but needs to do banking
transactions online which he cannot do now because the website requires IE vers
ion 5 or higher? Borrow a computer and risk revealing to the computer's owner
your banking information?
PM users asked for internal flash memory and they recently got it without
having to wait for years. BN users are having connectivity issues because
schools, for instance, are turning to wireless and fewer devices have serial
and parallel ports but make use of USB or Bluetooth technology, and every time
we request solutions from PDI, we get only an assurance that these will soon
come, but how soon may take more than two years. People who have expressed
their preference for PM units with integrated Braille displays got that late
last year with the newer models--not to mention that the display is detachable
so you can carry just that with you and use it with a computer running JAWS or
buy a PM without it first and just pay later for the display--and yet the
PACMate was released late 2002. BN users ask for more processor speed, and so
what if we had to pay for a hardware upgrade, that's our choice, but the best
we can hope is to have upgrades and fixes to already existing
software applications that run poorly or sluggishly like the new planner
taking the place of the old and less efficient one. We are moving too slow
like the download of messages in KeyMail or the loading of a web page, and the
competition is progressing in leaps and bounds like the use of ActiveSync with
the PACMate that takes 2 to 3 minutes to synchronize hundreds of appointments,
tasks, emails and files, and PM users complain when it takes them 6 to 12
minutes sometimes--unlike the BrailleNote which takes longer and can sync less,
even choking on large files because they are stored in the limited space of the
KeySoft Systems Disk.
I congratulate the listers who have demanded and continue to request for
improved features, and have not bought the sales talk about the BN being better
because it does not use GUI, nor expressed satisfaction with what the BN offers
because they think asking for more is turning it into a laptop. I urge PDI to
stop telling us what makes the BrailleNote still superior over the PACMate
because that does not take away the sinking feeling that the BrailleNote, our
BrailleNote, is being flushed down the toilet of technological advancement.
Just pick up your pace in improving your product and accept that there is a lot
of catching up to do. You do not need to sit around and wait for more posts on
future upgrades, we have seen and written so much already that you have not
proven to us that you can deliver at a satisfactory rate. Users have done
enough talking and rehashing of suggestions, now it's PDI's turn to respond,
not just mere assurances from the product manager, but r
eal good news like, "Users can expect a working relationship between KeyMail
and KeyWeb that will both work faster, more functions on a directory list in
the File Manager, and more useful calculator functions in the next upgrade to
be released this year", or "We will have a hardware upgrade available during
the first quarter of 2005 which will address issues about connectivity via USB,
wireless support, a faster processor and a newer version of Windows CE". These
are just examples, the real thing will depend on PDI's resources. Of course, I
trust that PDI knows it is good business practice to be able to deliver within
the projected time frame, or at least a little after that but not in six months
like version 5.0.
I expect people to react, telling me that I should shut up and get a
PACMate. Don't push me, I'm near the edge already. But not everyone will have
the option or funds to switch to the PACMate when they had to go through so
much to get a BrailleNote. That's why PDI has to respond more impressively and
efficiently--and very soon.
Sincerely,
Kirstyn
