Hello Ari,
I think I must be the person you found praising the Mac. Was it the
podcast on the Assistiveware site?
Recently, things have got even better as iTunes is now accessible.
VisioVoice is a very worthwhile purchase if you are working with other
languages besides English, I'd be lost without it now.
Anyhow, welcome to the list and I hope you decide to buy a Mac: you
won't regret it.
Cheers,
Anne
On Apr 12, 2007, at 8:31 PM, Ari wrote:
Hi guys,
I am also new to this list, I have written to the other list, and
got quite a bit of help, but I would like to introduce myself and
explain my situation and of course would like feedback and
suggestions.
I'm Ari, a politics student from South Africa. First, I'll say that
I'm really not a computer wizzard, but I am always keen to learn new
ways of doing things and technologies.
My old laptop that I was using with JFW has eventually failed. Now I
am really considering a Mac. My reasons are as follows:
1. I find it exciting that Apple have built the screen reader into
the OS, and, from what I hear, it seems as if it's actually usable,
unlike Narrator!
2. Obviously, taking this into account, I will not have to pay for
the new PC, plus upgrading JFW.
3. I find it brilliant knowing that, if I know how to use it, I can
go to any sighted person's Mac and work with it.
4. I also don't like the whole thing of Malware, Spyware, and all
the hassles that come with Windows.
I got very discouraged when I read this one article by a guy in
Accessworld, it seemed to me as if he really didn't have anything
good to say about VO and the Mac at all, but then when I did some
more searching, I found an email written by someone who says that
she uses her Mac without problems to do things such as Skype,
Browsing, and even translating documents from French (for me this is
interesting, since, because I'm also doing German, I'd like to know
if there's a way of allowing the Mac to read my documents to me in a
German voice?)
Here is my sort of problem/question though. I don't know anyone with
a Mac, so can't test it properly in my time or somehow learn it. I'm
going on Saturday to the Apple shop, where I've told them I'd like
to see the Mac with VO. My problem is that I think that I'm probably
one of, if not the first blind person to whom they will be
demonstrating it to, and I'm concerned that the sales person might
not exactly know how to show how the Mac can work effectively for
me, or somehow give me a propper taste of how I will find using the
Mac. You guys might think my complaint a bit stupid, but you
wouldn't believe the ignorance I've sometimes come across, example,
one guy who has quite a bit of experience with computers was shocked
to find that I didn't use the mouse like everyone else, it
understandably sort of didn't come into his mind. I'd like to go to
this shop and somehow be able to really make a propper judgment
about VO and buying a Mac.
Just to say, I'll also mainly be using the Mac for presenting my
assignments, email, internet (I've heard that VO and Safari can't
handle many web pages that people with Windows screen readers can,
is this true?) and skype, but I'm hoping that, if I choose a Mac, I
won't regret it somehow.
Thanks and sorry for the long email
Ari
