Hi again I thought I'd reply to my own message just to make clear that I'm not suggesting that bugs shouldn't be fixed - I'm only saying that some people have unrealistic expectations in knowing what is technically possible. Sure, a lot more is possible than PDI have currently implemented, and the implemented software has plenty of bugs to be squashed, but...
Saqib -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Saqib Shaikh Sent: 05 August 2004 09:00 To: 'Braillenote List' Subject: RE: [Braillenote] BN PK re missing files and E-mail problems Hi Don But I totally understand where you're coming from in your sarcasm. For many blind people who don't have the opportunity to learn how to use a computer, the braille lite was marketed as a blind persons computer. It was seen as a device which would allow blind non-computer-users operate in a sighted world. >From experience: I went to a school for the blind where I was taught to >type from the age of 10, and was fully preficient in using a word processor by the age of 12. Yes, people at my school were fortunate, but even then there were some students in their final year of school (aged 18) who hadn't the ability to grasp the complex nature of computers. I'm not criticising such people - but just pointing out that for some people learning to use a computer and screen reader is not possible. So these people wuld use braille lites as electronic braillers, and after a bit of training could learn to emboss from the braille lite for their personal reference and use a dot matrix printer to print out work for their teachers. Now, five years on, the braille lite is dead, the pacmate is too complicated, and the BrailleNote has taken the place of the braille lite as the electronic brailler. But this is still absolutely fine, until people see "email", "web browser", etc, and expect it to be an electronic brailler that is capable of doing the same as a 3GHZ machine from Dell, etc. I'm not sure there's any solution, except that the people who provide training in using the BN should also make the customer aware of its limitations. I think there's sometimes a tendancy to hype a product when training someone - afterall, its a brand new tool costing many thousands of pounds! Anywayk, just my $0.02 worth (at current exchange rates, £0.01.5 Saqib -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Don Bishop Sent: 04 August 2004 23:20 To: Braillenote List Subject: RE: [Braillenote] BN PK re missing files and E-mail problems Sabahattin, I was definitely being sarcastic. I've been on this list for over 3 years and maybe that's just too long. But, time and time again, I hear people wishing the bn could do all sorts of things which are really beyond the capability of a notetaker or pda. They seem to think it should be able to be a replacement for their pc and it isn't. The bn is a great device and getting even better, but a pc it will never be, certainly not with the current hardware configuration. But, this keeps coming up time and time again, and I really do wonder sometimes if people really do realize just what the capabilities and limitations are of the device they're purchasing. I wish I had a count of messages on this over the last several years. Sorry I even mentioned it. Email is sometimes just too easy to write. Don On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 23:09:07 +0100, Sabahattin Gucukoglu wrote: Hi Don, On 4 Aug 2004 at 14:01, Don Bishop spoke, thus: > Perhaps PDI should require that each new user of a bn be presented > with a document clearly explaining exactly what a braillenote is > intended to do and what it is not. They should then be required to > read this document fully and sign a statement saying they have read it > and understand its contents fully. Then, and only then, would they be > allowed to purchase a braillenote or other member of this product family. I do sincerely hope that you are being sarcastic and don't mean any of what you just said in any serious way. Not only is it very unlikely that PulseData would use such a scheme, unless there were no other way to justify their failings in software design, but there is no way I and any other righteously indignant person would submit to it. These issues are not our problems, in my opinion. They are concerns for immediate attention by PulseData developers. To express my view from all possible vantage points (including technical, but no less those of usability) on why I think these problems are no concern of PulseData's userbase, the BrailleNote may be limited by functionality because it is a notetaker and was built upon early foundations that were suitable for that role, but if it strives to be called a PDA (and in the newest form factor it will be hard to call it anything else when its software is brought up to scratch to the satisfaction of all concerned) then the current problems and customer experiences resulting from it are reasonably unacceptable and need attention for technical resolution, rather than user appreciation of why they exist and clumsy hacks and workarounds to solve them. An industry PDA either provides the features necessary to overcome the problems described, provides the hardware and/or resources so that the problems do not occur, provides the fixes so that the problems are resolved immediately, or else fails gracefully without doing anything dangerous or without the assumption that the human is possessed of extraordinary computing intelligence necessary to resolve it when displaying the appropriate diagnostics and/or error messages. This is true even for Non- Microsoft platforms - Microsoft are mentioned because they are notorious for accomplishing these goals to the extremes, even if the software itself is rubbish. If you don't believe me, look at Outlook Express - never has an email client been so utterly broken, yet its usability is excellent - even granny could understand it. There are some simple things that want attention in this respect before I am ready to excuse any limitation of hardware or software for the product's failings. If my mobile phone can do it, my notetaker, with its stronger processor and more abundant disk space, can do it. There is simply no room for excuse just yet, in my most objective view. Of course, loyal users are going to find fault with my apparent show of ingratitude, and technical people may or may not argue the small points out. But I'm afraid I still think we should be rising to tackle these showstoppers professionally rather than simply accept the proposition that the BrailleNote is inherently broken in various places and fix them using dirty hacks. I am sufficiently a list and newsposter to realise that what I have said may cause messages of contained rage to be written in response, please remember that I have everyone's interest at heart and am working hard to push the product in a direction that I think would benefit everyone. It doesn't matter what the effect of this is, I am doing all I can. How successful this will be, I am not sure; I suppose constantly reminding PulseData to fix something is annoying, but it is at least honest. Cheers, Sabahattin -- Thought for the day: Dictatorship (n): a form of government under which everything which is not prohibited is compulsory. Sabahattin Gucukoglu Phone: +44 20 7,502-1615 Mobile: +44 7986 053399 http://www.sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/ Email/MSN: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
