Justin, Windows XP (home and pro) will both run on your mac within the Virtual PC application. Windows screen readers will also run in that environment. Performance to date isn't anything to rave about, but if you'd only be using it once in a blue moon then that won't be a big head ache for you. Plus, the switch to Intel is at the least likely to provide a step up in performance, and possibly even mean that you'd be able to cut Virtual PC out of the equation and dual boot a mac with Windows running native, although thats only speculation for now. But as far as I can tell, the Virtual PC app would provide you with a good enough solution to shut them up, the Intel switch is a plus that you could add to it, and anything else that we may be able to do in future to cut VPC out of the equation would also be a big step forward for people in your situation.
its not nicely worded, theres others on the list for that hehe, but i thought it was worth reassuring you that this can be done. hth Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Poehlman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 5:17 PM Subject: Re: mac running windows XP > I've got a couple of things to say here. > > The Mac is over all less expensive than the pc. Since when did > states have so much money as to ignore this fact? > > What will make the Mac more suseptable to attack is windows, not the > chip. > > Employability is in the eye of the potential employer and if you > stick to your three majors, I see nothing standing in your way. So > What, you get a job that requires a pc, you use a pc. We're talking > about getting you outfitted for your education and none of us has a > chrystal ball beyond that not even MR. Clark. > > Now, this bit about compatability I do not understand. I run a Mac > on my network along with pcs. We swap and view files across the > network written in word and text edit all the time. Word is just > another flavor like chocolate. If you like it, you eat it. > > Actually, vo has been upgraded several times this year. Everytime > the os is upgraded which has happened at least three times including > just yesterday to my knowledge. Yep, vo is not a screen reader. > > On the issue of suport, What does Mr. Clark do for a living? Why > could he not support the mac? > > > -- > Jonnie Apple Seed > With his: > Hands-On Technolog(eye)s > > > On Jan 12, 2006, at 11:57 AM, Justin Harford wrote: > > Hi guys > > Could someone here do me a favor. I just got done with my meeting at > the department of rehabilitation, and they have flatly denied my > request for a mac. their points: > > 1. my converting to Mac would make me less employable since most of > employment revolves around windows. > 2. Mac won't be able to exchange information with windows since it > uses different programs than microsoft office. They really asserted > that Mac wouldn't > be useful because Voice Over does not work with microsoft word. > 3. Mr. Clark asserted that last year, Freedom Scientific made 2 > upgrades to Jaws, and that in 6 months, Voice Over has made none. > 4. They think that depending on my major (presently to be either > Law, History, or Spanish), graduate programs may require special > software only usable > with windows. They brought up statistics as an example. If I were > to go into administration as a vocation, I would probably have to > take statistics classes. > 5. Mr. Clark asserted that while at present, mac is less suseptible > to viruses, that this will change with the introduction of its intel > processors. > 6. I think a primary argument was that there wouldn't be as much > support for mac as for windows should the system need repair since 90 > percent of blind > people use the latter. > > Of course, I was able to answer to all 6 of the above, but you see, > the organization of my department is different from others. It is > not a simple one on one counselor student relationship. Since my > counselor feels that she has insuficient knowledge in the world of > technology, she has hired a separate person, Steve Clark, to handle > that. She places her undying trust in Mr. Clark, and blindly follows > his advice. I think that their main point (aside from number 6) is > that they think that there will be programs that only run on windows > XP with JAWS, and that I will be out of luck with my Mac should I > need one of those for a certain class. Okay, so here is my favor. > > If I can prove that Mac may support XP too, then I might have a > stronger argument. So, is there anyone on this list who has tried > JAWS with XP on their Mac? If not, could someone give it a try. I > couldn't immagine that you would have to buy the program, just > download the 40 minute demo off the net, and try that. Thanks for > any help I may receive. > > > > >
