I defiantly understand. I just want people to stop, look and listen.
That is sighted and blind, college educated or a high school drop out,
CEO or trash-man. If we will have a working version soon then all is
not lost but if it takes longer than that then change will have to
come. Why not test on Leopard, isn't it the latest OS for Apple?
On Jan 8, 2008, at 7:27 PM, Slau wrote:
Shaun,
To clarify the timeline for you, it hasn't been three years at all.
Our petition, which closed at the end of 2006 prompted the very
first meeting regarding VoiceOver compatibility in October or 2006.
As you can imagine, the development team didn't just drop everything
and start working on accessibility. They were already in the midst
of working on what ended up being PT 7.4. Mind you, they were
essentially finishing up what was to be introduced at the end of
2007. So, we're really only looking at about a year since a closer
look has been taken, not three years.
To answer your question, I'm using a dual processor G4 running Tiger
for beta testing. Regarding other testers, Digidesign has a form
that you can request to become a beta tester. Naturally, to be a
beta tester, one would have to be quite familiar with Pro Tools and
be well acquainted with it's features and operation. There are a
number of blind Pro Tools users who fit that bill.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Shaun Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: ProTools: The path to accessibility
So are you guys telling me that after three years of work and high
level meettings I still can't put my hands on Pro Tools, use it
with VO overr all without having to find a old computer and a
piece of software that isn't even in production. What platform are
you doing testing on? How can we join the team of testers?
On Jan 8, 2008, at 6:01 PM, Chris Blouch wrote:
Not to crank things up more but I thought Avid was partly owned by
Microsoft and Avid's big product line was high end video
production, the same target market for Apple's Final Cut. So
there is at least the appearance of some compulsion to not give
the Mac platform a huge win with their tools. I know Avid/
DigiDesign has dropped and picked up the Mac platform in the past
so they haven't had a real love for the platform.
CB
Slau wrote:
Shaun,
While I sympathize with your frustration, there are a few things
you need to keep in mind.
First, After Rick's work with Digidesign to make Pro Tools
accessible, we blind musicians and audio professionals who used
the Mac with outSPOKEN had years of excellent access to Pro
Tools. Where things fell apart was when Apple introduced a
completely new operating system and there was no third-party
screen reader. This, of course, had nothing to do with
Digidesign and certainly didn't diminish their track record for
working with blind customers. So it's not like we've had 16
years of no access.
Further, the whole issue of accessibility in OS X was a very long
process, throughout which, we didn't even know if the blind
would have access to the OS, much less any applications by
developers. As soon as it was clear that OS X Tiger was a viable
system for a blind person to use via VoiceOver, we began our
communications with Digidesign which led to several face-to-face
meetings at their Daly City headquarters as well as the NAMM
show in Anaheim and the AES show in San Fransisco and New York.
Keep in mind that the development cycle for products is not
months but years and this is not a simple application written in
Coco. this is a cross-platform application for OS X and Windows
that requires an enormous amount of work to create and update.
Taking two seconds to change one's mind, as you say, is not at
all the case when it comes to corporations that have production
schedules and development cycles like this.
Regarding beta testing, I assure you that, not only are there
plenty of beta testers for OS X who are aware of the issue of
accessibility with programs such as Pro Tools, I happen to be a
beta tester for Pro Tools itself and I was specifically invited
to the beta team in the hopes of future testing of accessibility.
All of this, naturally, doesn't mean that everything is fine and
dandy. It takes a lot of time and effort to continue our
progress. By all means, if digidesign doesn't produce some sort
of results, perhaps a legal action will be warranted but not
before we've tried everything to do it in good faith.
Trust me, I make my living as an audio engineer and there's
nothing more that I want but to ensure Pro Tools accessibility,
for myself as well as for others. While I'm aware that the
squeaky wheel gets the grease, I've been around long enough to
know that there are preferable ways of going about dealing with
corporations and the people who run them. Incidentally, the
petition we drafted, which Digidesign became aware of by word-of-
mouth, prompted an invitation from them to have a meeting even
before we presented it. The petition was delivered to the heads
of Digidesign as well as their parent company, Avid
Technologies. Our communications are with the senior product
manager for Pro Tools as well as vice-president of marketing and
development. I do believe we're talking to the right people.
Please be patient and have some trust that some of us who have
had a track record with Digidesign are working hard to ensure
the future accessibility of Pro Tools.
Best,
slau
