Focussing exclusively on the strengths or weaknesses of any platform
is by its very nature a lack of objectivity. A balanced approach is
the way to go. If one tries to enlighten people of the reasons to
use the Mac platform by sticking primarily to its
shortcomings....well, I think the absurdity of such an idea speaks
for itself.
Office 2008 for Mac should be out later this year, and it is
important to point out that it is the first version of the suite to
be released since the introduction of VoiceOver. It'll be
interesting to see if it is more accessible than the 2004 version.
Either way, many many programs have the ability to import and export
to Office compatible formats, and I expect that to become more and
more the case as XML seaps its way into everything.
Nowadays, I have much greater success finding software that works
decently to stellar with VoiceOver than I do finding software on
Windows that works well with the screen readers available for that
platform. This was not the case two years ago, but I think is very
clearly the case now. This has a lot to do with the tremendous
amount of custom controls being used without a thought to
accessibility under Windows, even when it isn't necessary. A high
number of apps for Mac developed over the last two years are
accessible simply because Cocoa makes them so with little or no work
on the parts of the developers. The VO compatibility database we've
been contributing to helps illustrate this point. I expect this to
continue to broaden options on the Mac for blind users.
Josh de Lioncourt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
...my other mail provider is an owl...
On Jun 20, 2007, at 1:07 AM, Abdul Kamara wrote:
Hello Harry or Linda,
This is an excellent point. Bring it up, and many would accuse you
of being
an Apple basher.
As it stands, Office is not accessible via Voice Over. Blackboard,
if it is
the same here as it is in the States, is a web Application, and
depending on
VoiceOver's capabilities, you should have no problems accessing it.
The key here is intellectual honesty. Counselors have good reason
to be
skeptical of the Mac and its viability. As someone who is training
to be a
Barrister, I would say that key to unearthing any entrenched
positions and
switching them to yours is willingness on your part to acknowledge the
weaknesses of your position, and respecting why others believe
differently.
Subsequently, any talking point devised to help counselors see the
light,
must take into account the reason why they get the computers for their
clients in the first place. It's all about the education and
jobs. And
they are going to support a platform that dominates, supporting more
applications for the disabled. As much as I love Apple, this is an
inescapable truth.
To all who are planning on writing anything on this issue, I would
implore
you to do the following. Focus less energy on wy you think the Mac is
"superior" and put more on addressing the actual weaknesses
(because they
are there). They are not insurmountable, but failure to address
them will
lead to dismissal and more hardliner points of view on the part of
rehabilitation counselors.
