How big of a share in Apple's fantastic products does the Blindness
community have - if I can use that expression? Although Apple have in
many respects made huge leaps forward in accessibility, I still do not
think that we or similar groups are as prevalent as we could be.
Here at my University in Wales, I am trying to make certain key staff
see the virtues of using the Mac as opposed to MS, but who can we do
this when the proprietary software is not being made accessible? I
know the Mac has some fantastic alternatives, and in my humble
opinion, they are better than the competition in many respects, but
still they are not as prominent or sometimes as accessible/user
friendly.
Best James
On 17 Jan 2008, at 20:29, Simon Cavendish wrote:
I'd like to support what Greg's just said. It is Apple's policy to
encourage other third party applications to adhere to Apple's
accessibility ambitions. In that, Microsoft is failing as far as new
Ms Office for Mac suite is concerned. One would hope that Apple
would have something to say to Microsoft.
Simon
On 17 Jan 2008, at 19:01, Greg Kearney wrote:
No they can not claim that. For over four years now Apple has been
telling developers how to do accessibility. We all got letters,
physical letters, telling us what to do an not do. The
accessibility standards for Macintosh are clear and unambiguous. It
is up to the programmers to make their products accessible to the
OS. Remember that VoiceOver is part of the OS not something added
to it.
Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Jan 17, 2008, at 11:56 AM, Cara Quinn wrote:
Hey All, what you're saying is great, but honestly, -bet you MS
would only point the finger right back at Apple if this were
brought up, saying that basically, it's apple's own OS and their
own screen access software, so not our issue...
<smile -Could be off here, but just a lil reality check...
Have an awesome day!...
Smiles,
Cara :)
On Jan 17, 2008, at 7:14 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Greg and the Listers,
I entirely agree with Greg's words. It is a shame for Microsoft
to have produced a flagship version of its main suite ignoring
accessibility for visually impaired people and print impaired
people in the presence of the fact that Microsoft must be aware
of its obligations with regard to accessibility as outlined
above. I should imagine that it is against the ADA law and the
Disability Discrimination Act, 1995, in the UK. It would require
though a major representatives of business to take Microsoft to
book on account of this omission. The fact is that Microsoft must
have known that Mac OS platform is already accessible to blind
and print impaired people and to ignore this warrants an uproar.
Let us all protest in whatever ways we are able to.
With best wishes
Simon Cavendish
On 17 Jan 2008, at 14:26, Greg Kearney wrote:
According to Microsoft this morning Microsoft Office 08 is not
accessible to the blind or print disabled using VoiceOver. So
don't bother going out and buying it. I will now editorialize:
At some point someone is going to start raising the issue of
consumer products, in this case Microsoft Office, not being
accessible and if producing such products is actionable under
the Americans with Disabilities Act. That aside what in the
world is Microsoft thinking? This was a product that was delayed
because the code was changed to Xcode and here we have a major
productivity application that is not accessible? Microsoft
should be ashamed of itself and I for one would like to have
someone from Microsoft offer some kind of explanation for this
oversight.
It is one thing for some small company with limited resources to
not have an accessible application it is inexcusable for a
company the size of Microsoft to re-write a major application
like office and not have it be accessible. If Xcode would not
compile non-accessible application we might have avoided this.
It is interesting to note that the only accessible spreadsheet
for the Mac, Tables, is the work of a lone programer who managed
to do it with out the resources of a Microsoft or Apple.
On a related note developer at Sun have been asking questions
about accessibility on a developer list at Apple so perhaps
there is hope that Sun will be developing an accessible version
of Open Office. Let's hope so anyway. And let's hope that
someone at Apple is able to get and explanation from Microsoft
as to why an application written after VoiceOver's release is
not able to be used by the blind and print disabled. And Apple
your not off the hook here either Pages and Numbers are not
accessible either I might add.
Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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