Thanks for your defiant understanding. Pro Tools is not Leopard compatible
yet. Someone else mentioned that already in this thread but I guess you must
have missed that.
Cheers.
----- 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 7:59 PM
Subject: Re: ProTools: The path to accessibility
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
