Bruce, I would say you are definitely right. When one's own money is on the
line all of a sudden the difference is recognized and the amazing savings
appreciated. I presented Voiceover and Zoom with an associate at an
accessibility conference at William Patterson University in Wayne NJ on
03-17-06 and had the opportunity to show the tools available for surfing the
Internet as well as dealing with documents. Afterwards, a technology
teacher from Pennsylvania asked me to convince her why she should buy a Mac.
I of course mentioned that everything was included, Text edit can deal with
Word documents and the fact that once a person learns the language of the
Mac and how to use voiceover they can use just about any application that is
and will become compatible without a steep learning curve. The question
then came up about using so many commands to do a spell check. I simply
stated that once a user starts doing it on a regular basis it becomes as
reflexive as using Jaws or Window-Eyes. I mentioned my 10 year old student
who is simply running away with the thing and learning so quickly and is
looking forward to learning IChat and E-Mail (of course I'll wait until she
can do her school assignments first). The teacher was intrigued and
expressed a desire to further increase her knowledge regarding the Mac.
People need to see the everyday tasks they perform work on a Mac. The more
Voiceover is presented at conferences I think you will start seeing more
acceptance. Zoom is quite incredible and my associate wowed the crowd with
the clarity and ease of operation of the zoom product.
Also, an apple representative named Diane Lippa was present. She observed
our demo as well as helped people who got stuck. Unfortunately, I didn't
have much time to speak with her but she assured me that Voiceover and
accessibility are in the forefront of apples focus. This was a very small
conference and I told her I was pleased that Apple sent a representative.
The Mac is back and soon the skeptics will jump on the band wagon too.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Bailey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: CSUN presentation
I would have been converted earlier if you had
sent me one as well.
I am thinking that people who spend their own money are more committed
to making VoiceOver work. Maybe there is a reason Apple doesn't have
an iBook loaner program to tempt switchers...
