"I find it interesting that you insist you can't do
things that folks have repeatedly stated is perfectly doable."
I'm unsure of how to respond to this. I've tried suggestions that folks
have offered. However, some of those have involved learning how to interact
with the Mac in terminal mode. Just another layer to learn and work through
and frankly getting a new computer and switching operating systems to a
format widely proclaimed to be far better than Windows should not involve so
many more steps. You may pass this off as someone who is not a tech
oriented person or someone who just doesn't understand computers who tried
this and decided it didn't work. The truth is I've spent many hours and
worked very hard to find solutions and make this work. Like it or not, I
had far fewer problems when I was using Jaws and Windows. Yes, security was
a concern and Windows just presents a lot of problems but the trade-off is
that I was able to use it effectively.
Check out my blog at http://lsw999.blogspot.com/
Larry Wanger
----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Siegel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 10:37 AM
Subject: Re: The $199 question
OSXnews works just fine with voice over, and it's download page isn't
difficult at all to navigate. It's been mentioned here before multiple
tines. I find it interesting that you insist you can't do things that
folks have repeatedly stated is perfectly doable.
But, to each his own.
However, I find the procare thing a bit disturbing. When I got my mac, I
was clearly told that procare would cover amy questions I might have,
including voice over related ones. I'd call apple back, and ask if what
you were told is true, it's possible the person who said that wasn't
properly informed as to the current state of affairs.
On Dec 27, 2005, at 12:17 PM, LARRY WANGER wrote:
Well, one of the very apparent differences between my past use of
Windows based screen readers and my new experience with VO is kind of
surprising to me. There just isn't support available from Apple.
Here is some background.
I've asked a few times about different programs that I could use to meet
my needs with my Mac and access to class newsgroups that I use in
conjunction with courses I take as well as insuring that I have access
to normally used file formats like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You guys
have offered some good suggestions. I can use text edit for word
documents. I should be able to use iWork or Apple Works as well for
many of these purposes but I've tested both products, Made by Apple I
might add, and neither works with VO. Additionally, I was able to
activate the Office 2004 test drive that came on my Mac and none of the
applications in that suite of programs was accessible either.
Beyond this, I called the University technical support line to ask what
programs they support for use with newsgroups on the Mac and they were
able to suggest Thunderbird and or Onterage which are available. I
tried Onterage as said with the Office suite and it would not work and
could not get Thunderbird to allow for access either.
Finally, out of frustration, I called Apple and tried to ask questions,
thus the subject line of this message. I was told that because I have
the Apple Care plan that I could get tech support but the questions I
was asking about VO are usage and therefore I would need to pay $199 to
talk with someone.
Guys, this is beyond ridiculous. I've been patient and worked very hard
to make the Mac work for me. I really like it too but the bottom line
here is that the computer must meet my needs and it shouldn't be a
project to make it do so. I've spent now nearly 2 weeks with it and
clearly know what I need it to do. Unfortunately, I'm not getting it to
do that. Many of you will argue that I should be patient and keep
working with it. However, the bigger issue here is that for Apple to
make it in the blindness community and to be a mainstream product, they
must realize that probably 99% of blind people...or anyone else for that
matter, won't have the patience and tech skills to continue to work with
it. It must be user friendly and ready to go right out of the box and
folks, it isn't!!!
Perhaps in the future the Mac will make it but its not working for me
right now. Someone made the argument that it's only been six months
since VO has been available and eventually it will get there. I'm sure
this is the case but that won't help me at this moment when I need it to
work for me now. I'm really unsure on what to do at this point but its
clear that while I can use the Mac to read and write Word documents, I
can not work with Excel or PowerPoint documents and I can not yet at
this point subscribe or work with newsgroups for my classes. Someone
suggested using Snownews but remember, not all of us understand this
advanced garbage that was on the page there and I could not even tell
which version to download.
I'm trying to balance maintaining a clear overall picture of my
experience here which has been relatively good with the major short-
falls that I find with some specific issues I've got. Realize though
that one buys a computer to perform specific tasks for them. I clearly
know what I need to do with it but the Mac thus far is not allowing me
to do so. I'm increasingly unhappy with it and may in fact need to
return this. I expect some of you to have some sharp reactions to
this.How could anyone go back to a PC after experiencing the Mac? I can
see that point but if the computer won't do what I need it to do and
Apple wants $200 each and every time I want to ask a question then what
is the point. I might as well keep paying Freedom Scientific or GW
Micro the high price for a screen reader and get support as part of that
package. I fail to see how Apple defines tech support verses user
questions but maybe someone has some insight on that as well?
Check out my blog at http://lsw999.blogspot.com/
Larry Wanger
Check out my blog at http://lsw999.blogspot.com/
Larry Wanger
