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
